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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 


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Face to face with the Titan 


[Page 44 ] 


;v . 









‘ELLUCIDAR 

A sequel to “At the Earth's Core” 
relating the further adven¬ 
tures of David Innes in 
the land underneath 
the Earth’s Crust 
» 

BY / 

EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS 

n 

Author of Tarzan and the Golden Lion; 

The Chessmen of Mars, etc. 

v t 

Illustrated by 
J. ALLEN ST. JOHN 



> 



CHICAGO 

A. C. McCLURG & CO. 

1923 










t 




Vm 




Copyright 

The Frank A. Munsey Company 
1915 


Copyright Assigned to 
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. 
1923 


Copyright 

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. 
1923 


Published September, 1923 


Copyrighted in Great Britain 


C1A71179S 




Printed in the United States of America 


sep -a i'jt 






CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

Prolog. 1 

I Lost on Pellucidar. 12 

II Traveling with Terror. 33 

III Shooting the Chutes—and After. 54 

IV Friendship and Treachery. 75 

V Surprises. 97 

VI A Pendent World. 118 

VII From Plight to Plight. 140 

VIII Captive . 161 

IX Hooja’s Cutthroats Appear. 179 

X The Raid on the Cave-prison. 198 

XI Escape. 217 

XII Kidnaoed!. 236 

X 

XIII Racing for Life. 258 

XIV Gore and Dreams. 273 

XV Conquest and Peace.•.. 297 





















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(f 




ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

Face to face with the Titan. Frontispiece 

The Mahar spread her giant wings and sped away 20 

With a hideous roar the beast turned and slunk 
toward the girl. 100 

I drew my long knife and drove it home with both 
hands .234 






m 





% 









PELLUCIDAR 


PROLOG' 

S EVERAL years had elapsed since I had 
found the opportunity to do any big- 
game hunting; but at last I had my plans 
almost perfected for a return to my old 
stamping-grounds in northern Africa, where 
in other days I had had excellent sport in 
pursuit of the king of beasts. 

The date of my departure had been set; I 
was to leave in two weeks. No schoolboy 
counting the lagging hours that must pass 
before the beginning of “long vacation” 
released him to the delirious joys of the 
summer camp could have been filled with 
greater impatience or keener anticipation. 

And then came a letter that started me for 
Africa twelve days ahead of my schedule. 

Often am I in receipt of letters from 
strangers who have found something in a 

i 


2 


PELLUCIDAR 




story of mine to commend or to condemn. 
My interest in this department of my cor¬ 
respondence is ever fresh. I opened this 
particular letter with all the zest of pleas¬ 
urable anticipation with which I had opened 
so many others. The post-mark (Algiers) 
had aroused my interest and curiosity, 
especially at this time, since it was Algiers 
that was presently to witness the termina¬ 
tion of my coming sea voyage in search of 
sport and adventure. 

Before the reading of that letter was com¬ 
pleted lions and lion-hunting had fled my 
thoughts, and I was in a state of excitement 
bordering upon frenzy. 

It — well, read it yourself, and see if you, 
too, do not find food for frantic conjecture, 
for tantalizing doubts, and for a great hope. 

Here it is: 

Dear Sir : I think that I have run across one of the 
most remarkable coincidences in modern literature. 
But let me start at the beginning: 

I am, by profession, a wanderer upon the face of 
the earth. I have no trade — nor any other occupation. 

My father bequeathed me a competency; some 




PROLOG 


3 


remoter ancestor — a lust to roam. I have ccmbined the 
(wo and invested them carefully and without extrava¬ 
gance. 

I became interested in your story, At the Earth's 
Core, not so much because of the probability of the tale 
as of a great and abiding wonder that people should be 
paid real money for writing such impossible trash. 
You will pardon my candor, but it is necessary that you 
understand my mental attitude toward this particular 
story — that you may credit that which follows. 

Shortly thereafter I started for the Sahara in search 
of a rather rare species of antelope that is to be found 
only occasionally within a limited area at a certain 
season of the year. My chase led me far from the 
haunts of civilized man. 

It was a fruitless search, however, in so far as ante¬ 
lope is concerned; but one night as I lay courting sleep 
at the edge of a little cluster of date-palms that sur¬ 
round an ancient well in the midst of the arid, shifting 
sands, I suddenly became conscious of a strange sound 
coming apparently from the earth beneath my head. 

It was an intermittent ticking! 

No reptile or insect with which I am familiar repro¬ 
duces any such notes. I lay for an hour — listening 
intently. 

At last my curiosity got the better of me. I arose, 
lighted my lamp and commenced to investigate. 

My bedding lay upon a rug stretched directly upon * 
ihe warm sand. The noise appeared to be coming 
from beneath the rug. I raised it, but found nothing 
— yet; at intervals, the sound continued. 




4 


PELLUCID AR 


I dug into the sand with the point of my hunt: 
knEc. A few inches below the surface of the sar 
encountered a solid substance that had the feel of w 
beneath the sharp steel. 

Excavating about it, I unearthed a small woo 
box. From this receptacle issued the strange so 
that I had heard. 

How had it come here? 

What did it contain? 

In attempting to lift it from its burying place I < 
covered that it seemed to be held fast by means o 
very small insulated cable running farther into the s; 
beneath it. 

My first impulse was to drag the thing loose by m 
strength; but fortunately I thought better of this i 
fell to examining the box. I soon saw that it \ 
covered by a hinged, lid, which was held closed b} 
simple screw-hook and eye. 

It took but a moment to loosen this and raise i 
cover, when, to my utter astonishment, I discovered 
ordinary telegraph instrument clicking away within. 

“What in the world,” thought I, “is this tbi 
doing here ? ” 

That it was a French military instrument was r 
first guess; but really there didn’t seem much likeliho 
that this was the correct explanation, when one tC' 
into account the loneliness and remoteness of the sp< 

As I sat gazing at my remarkable find, which w 
ticking and clicking away there in the silence of t 
desert night, trying to convey some message which 
was unable to interpret, my eyes fell upon a bit of pap. 





PROLOG 


5 


lying in the bottom of the box beside the instrument. I 
picked it up and examined it. Upon it were written 
but two letters: 

d. i. 

They meant nothing to me then. I was baffled. 

Once, in an interval of silence upon the part of the 
receiving instrument, I moved the sending-key up and 
down a few times. Instantly the receiving mechanism 
commenced to work frantically. 

I tried to recall something of the Morse Code, with 
which I had played as a little boy — but time had 
obliterated it from my memory. I became almost 
frantic as I let my imagination run riot among the possi¬ 
bilities for which this clicking instrument might stand. 

Some poor devil at the unknown other end might be 
in dire need of succor. The very frankness of the 
instrument’s wild clashing betokened something of the 
kind. 

And there sat I, powerless to interpret, and so power¬ 
less to help! 

It was then that the inspiration came to me. In a 
flash there leaped to my mind the closing paragraphs of 
the story I had read in the club at Algiers: 

Docs the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of 
the broad Sahara, at the ends of two tiny wires, hidden 
beneath a lost cairn? 

The idea seemed preposterous. Experience and intel¬ 
ligence combined to assure me that there could be no 
slightest grain of truth or possibility in your wild tale 
— it was fiction pure and simple. 

And yet where were the other ends of those wires? 





6 


PELLUCID A R 







What was this instrument — ticking away here it 
great Sahara — but a travesty upon the possible! 

Would I have believed in it. had I not seen it 
my own eyes? 

And the initials — D. i. — upon the slip of ps 
David's initials were these — David Innes. 

I smiled at my imaginings. I ridiculed the asst 
tion that there was an inner world and that these t 
led downward through the earth's crust to the sut 
of Pellucidar. And yet- 

Well, I sat there all night, listening to that tantal 
clicking, now and then moving the sending-key ju 
let the other end know that the instrument had 
discovered. In the morning, after carefully retur 
the box to its hole and covering it over with sar 
called my servants about me, snatched a hurried br 
fast, mounted my horse, and started upon a fo 
march for Algiers. 

I arrived here today. In writing you this letter I 
that I am making a fool of inyself. 

There is no David Innes. 

There is no Dian the Beautiful. 

There is no world within a world. 

Pellucidar is but a realm of your imagination — n 
ing more. 

But - 

The incident of the finding of that buried teleg 1 
instrument upon the lonely Sahara is little shor 
uncanny, in view of your story of the adventure 
David Innes. 

I have called it one of the most remarkable eo: 


- .4 







PROLOG 


7 


dences in modern fiction. I called it literature before, 
but — again pardon my candor — your story is not. 

And now — why am I writing you? 

Heaven knows, unless it is that the persistent clicking 
of that unfathomable enigma out there in the vast 
silences of the Sahara has so wrought upon my nerves 
that reason refuses longer to function sanely. 

I cannot hear it now, yet I know that far away to 
the south, all alone beneath the sands, it is still pound¬ 
ing out its vain, frantic appeal. 

It is maddening! 

It is your fault — I want you to release me from it. 

Cable me at once, at my expense, that there was no 
basis of fact for your story, At the Earth's Core. 

Very respectfully yours, 

Cogdon Nestor, 

-and - Club, 


June ist, 


Algiers. 


Ten minutes after reading this letter I had 
cabled Mr. Nestor as follows: 

Story true. Await me Algiers. 

As fast as train and boat would carry me, 
I sped toward my destination. For all those 
dragging days my mind was a whirl of mad 
conjecture, of frantic hope, of numbing fear. 

The finding of the telegraph-instrument 
practically assured me that David Innes had 







8 


PELLUCIDAR 


driven Perry’s iron mole back through the 
earth’s crust to the buried world of Pelluci- 
dar; but what adventures had befallen him 
since his return? 

Had he found Dian the Beautiful, his half¬ 
savage mate, safe among his friends, or had 
Hooja the Sly One succeeded in his nefa¬ 
rious schemes to abduct her? 

Did Abner Perry, the lovable old inventor 
and paleontologist, still live? 

Had the federated tribes of Pellucidar 
succeeded in overthrowing the mighty 
Mahars, the dominant race of reptilian 
monsters, and their fierce, gorilla-like sol¬ 
diery, the savage Sagoths? 

I must admit that I was in a state border 
ing upon nervous prostration when I entered 
the-and- Club, in Algiers, and in¬ 

quired for Mr. Nestor. A moment later T 
was ushered into his presence, to find myself 
clasping hands with the sort of chap that 
the world holds only too few of. 

He was a tall, smooth-faced man of about 
thirty, clean-cut, straight, and strong, and 
weather-tanned to the hue of a desert Arab. 






PROLOG 


9 


I liked him immensely from the first, and I 
hope that after our three months together 
in the desert country — three months not 
entirely lacking in adventure — he found 
that a man may be a writer of “ impossible 
trash ” and yet have some redeeming qual¬ 
ities. 

The day following my arrival at Algiers 
we left for the south, Nestor having made all 
arrangements in advance, guessing, as he 
naturally did, that I could be coming to 
Africa for but a single purpose — to hasten 
at once to the buried telegraph-instrument 
and wrest its secret from it. 

In addition to our native servants, we 
took along an English telegraph-operator 
named Frank Downes. Nothing of interest 
enlivened our journey by rail and caravan 
till we came to the cluster of date-palms 
about the ancient well upon the rim of the 
Sahara. 

It was the very spot at which I first had 
seen David Innes. If he had ever raised a 
cairn above the telegraph instrument no 
sign of it remained now. Had it not been 


r 





10 


PELLUCIDAR 


for the chance that caused Cogden Nestor 
to throw down his sleeping rug directly over 
the hidden instrument, it might still be 
clicking there unheard — and this story still 
unwritten. 

When we reached the spot and unearthed 
the little box the instrument was quiet, nor 
did repeated attempts upon the part of our 
telegrapher succeed in winning a response 
from the other end of the line. After sev¬ 
eral days of futile endeavor to raise Pellu- 
cidar, we had begun to despair. I was as 
positive that the other end of that little cable 
protruded through the surface of the inner 
world as I am that I sit here today in my 
study — when about midnight of the fourth 
day I was awakened by the sound of the 
instrument. 

Leaping to my feet I grasped Downes 
roughly by the neck and dragged him out of 
his blankets. He didn’t need to be told what 
caused my excitement, for the instant he 
was awake he, too, heard the long-hoped for 
click, and with a whoop of delight pounced 
upon the instrument. 




PROLOG 


11 


Nestor was on his feet almost as soon as I. 
The three of us huddled about that little box 
as if our lives depended upon the message it 
had for us. 

Downes interrupted the clicking with his 
sending-key. The noise of the receiver 
stopped instantly. 

“Ask who it is, Downes,” I directed. 

He did so, and while we awaited the 
Englishman’s translation of the reply, I 
doubt if either Nestor or I breathed. 

“He says he’s David Innes,” said Downes. 
“He wants to know who we are.” 

“ Tell him,” said I; “and that we want to 
know how he is — and all that has befallen 
him since I last saw him.” 

For two months I talked with David Tnnes 
almost every day, and as Downes translated, 
either Nestor or I took notes". From these, 
arranged in chronological order, I have set 
down the following account of the further 
adventures of David Innes at the earth’s 
core, practically in his own words. 






CHAPTER I 


LOST ON PELLUCIDAR 


f HE Arabs, of whom I wrote you at the 



JL end of my last letter (Innes began), and 
whom I thought to be enemies intent only 
upon murdering me, proved to be exceed¬ 
ingly friendly — they were searching for the 
very band of marauders that had threatened 
my existence. The huge rhamphorhynchus- 
like reptile that I had brought back with me 
from the inner world — the ugly Mahar that 
Hooja the Sly One had substituted for my 
dear Dian at the moment of my departure — 
filled them with wonder and with awe. 

Nor less so did the mighty subterranean 
prospector which had carried me to Pelhvk- 
dar and back again, and which lay out in 1 he 
desert about two miles from my camp. 

With their help I managed to get t ie 
unwieldy tons of its great bulk into a ver¬ 
tical position — the nose deep in a hole we 
had dug in the sand and the rest of it sup¬ 
ported by the trunks of date-palms cut for 
the purpose. 


12 



LOST ON PELLUCIDAR 


13 


It was a mighty engineering job with only 
wild Arabs and their wilder mounts to do 
the work of an electric crane — but finally it 
was completed, and I was ready for depar¬ 
ture. 

For some time I hesitated to take the 
Mahar back with me. She had been docile 
and quiet ever since she had discovered her¬ 
self virtually a prisoner aboard the “iron 
mole.'* 5 It had been, of course, impossible 
for me to communicate with her since she 
had no auditory organs and I no knowledge 
of her fourth-dimension, sixth-sense method 
of communication. 

Naturally I am kind-hearted, and so I 
found it beyond me to leave even this hateful 
and repulsive thing alone in a strange and 
hostile world. The result was that when I 
entered the iron mole I took her with me. 

That she knew that we were about to 
return to Pellucidar was evident, for imme¬ 
diately her manner changed from that of 
habitual gloom that had pervaded her, to an 
almost human expression of contentment 
and delight. 




14 


PELLUCIDAR 


Our trip through the earth’s crust was but 
a repetition of my two former journeys 
between the inner and the outer worlds. 
This time, however, I iniagine that we must 
have maintained a more nearly perpendicu¬ 
lar course, for we accomplished the journey 
in a few minutes’ less time than upon the 
occasion of my first journey through the 
five-hundred-mile crust. Just a trifle less 
than seventy-two hours after our departure 
into the sands of the Sahara, we broke 
through the surface of Pellucidar. 

Fortune once again favored me by the 
slightest of margins, for when I opened the 
door in the prospector’s outer jacket I saw 
that we had missed coming up through the 
bottom of an ocean by but a few hundred 
yards. 

The aspect of the surrounding country 
was entirely unfamiliar to me — I had no 
conception of precisely where I was upon 
the one hundred and twenty-four million 
square miles of Pellucidar s vast land sur¬ 
face. 

The perpetual midday sun poured down 





LOST ON PELLUCIDAR 


15 


its torrid rays from zenith, as it had done 
since the beginning of Pellucidarian time — 
as it would continue to do to the end of it. 
Before me, across the wide sea, the weird, 
horizonless seascape folded gently upward 
to meet the sky until it lost itself to view in 
the azure depths of distance far above the 
level of my eyes. 

How strange it looked! How vastly dif¬ 
ferent from the flat and puny area of the cir¬ 
cumscribed vision of the dweller upon the 
outer crust! 

I was lost. Though I wandered cease¬ 
lessly throughout a lifetime, I might never 
discover the whereabouts of my former 
friends of this strange and savage world. 
Never again might I see dear old Perry, nor 
Ghak the Hairy One, nor Dacor the Strong 
One, nor that other infinitely precious one — 
my sweet and noble mate, Dian the Beau¬ 
tiful ! 

But even so I was glad to tread once more 
the surface of Pellucidar. Mysterious and 
terrible, grotesque and savage though she 
is in many of her aspects, I can not but 




16 


PELLUCIDAR 


love her. Her very savagery appealed to me, 
for it is the savagery of unspoiled Nature. 

The magnificence of her tropic beauties 
enthralled me. Her mighty land areas 
breathed unfettered freedom. 

Her untracked oceans, whispering of vir¬ 
gin wonders unsullied by the eye of man, 
beckoned me out upon their restless bosoms. 

Not for an instant did I regret the world 
of my nativity. I was in Pellucidar. I was 
home. And I was content. 

As I stood dreaming beside the giant 
thing that had brought me safely through 
the earth’s crust, my traveling companion, 
the hideous Mahar, emerged from the inte¬ 
rior of the prospector and stood beside me. 
For a long time she remained motionless. 

What thoughts were passing through the 
convolutions of her reptilian brain ? 

I do not know. 

She was a member of the dominant race 
of Pellucidar. By a strange freak of evolu¬ 
tion her kind had first developed the power' 
of reason in that world of anomalies. 

To her, creatures such as I were of a lower 




LOST ON PELLUCIDAR 


17 


order. As Perry had discovered among the 
writings of her kind in the buried city of 
Phutra, it w T as still an open question among 
the Mahars as to whether man possessed 
means of intelligent communication or the 
power of reason. 

Her kind believed that in the center of all- 
pervading solidity there was a single, vast, 
spherical cavity, which was Pellucidar. This 
cavity had been left there for the sole pur¬ 
pose of providing a place for the creation 
and propagation of the Mahar race. Every¬ 
thing within it had been put there for the 
uses of the Mahar. 

I wondered w r hat this particular Mahar 
might think now. I found pleasure in spec¬ 
ulating upon just what the effect had been 
upon her of passing through the earth’s 
crust, and coming out into a world that one 
of even less intelligence than the great 
Mahars could easily see was a different 
world from her own Pellucidar. 

What had she thought of the outer world’s 
tiny sun? 

What had been the effect upon her of the 






PELLUCIDAR 


moon and myriad stars of the clear African 
nights? 

How had she explained them? 

With what sensations of awe must she 
first have watched the sun moving slowly 
across the heavens to disappear at last 
beneath the western horizon, leaving in his 
wake that which the Mahar had never before 
witnessed — the darkness of night? For 
upon Pellucidar there is no night. The 
stationary sun hangs forever in the center 
of the Pellucidarian sky — directly over¬ 
head. 

Then, too, she must have been impressed 
by the wondrous mechanism of the prospec¬ 
tor which had bored its way from world to 
world and back again. And that it had been 
driven by a rational being must also have 
occurred to her. 

Too, she had seen me conversing with 
other men upon the earth's surface. She 
had seen the arrival of the caravan of books 
and arms, and ammunition, and the balance 

m- 

of the heterogeneous collection which I had 
crammed into the cabin of the iron mole for 





LOST ON PELLUCIDAR 


19 


transportation to Pellucidar. 

She had seen all these evidences of a civili¬ 
zation and brain-power transcending in 
scientific achievement anything that her 
race had produced; nor once had she seen a 
creature of her own kind. 

There could have been but a single deduc¬ 
tion in the mind of the Mahar — there were 
other worlds than Pellucidar, and the gilak 
was a rational being. 

Now the creature at my side was creeping 
slowly toward the near-by sea. At my hip 
hung a long-barreled six-shooter — some¬ 
how I had been unable to find the same sen¬ 
sation of security in the new-fangled auto¬ 
matics that had been perfected since my first 
departure from the outer world — and in my 
hand was a heavy express rifle. 

I could have shot the Mahar with ease, for 
I knew intuitively that she was escaping — 
but I did not. 

I felt that if she could return to her own 
kind with the story of her adventures, the 
position of the human race within Pellucidar 
would be advanced immensely at a single 




20 


PELLUCIDAR 


stride, for at once man would take his proper 
place in the considerations of the reptilia. 

At the edge of the sea the creature paused 
and looked back at me. Then she slid sinu¬ 
ously into the surf. 

For several minutes I saw no more of her 
as she luxuriated in the cool depths. 

Then a hundred yards from shore she rose 
and there for another short while she floated 
upon the surface. 

Finally she spread her giant wings, 
flapped them vigorously a score of times and 
rose above the blue sea. A single time she 
circled far aloft — and then straight as an 
arrow she sped away. 

I watched her until the distant haze 
enveloped her and she had disappeared. I 
was alone. 

My first concern was to discover where 
within Pellucidar I might be — and in what 
direction lay the land of the Sarians where 
Ghak the Hairy One ruled. 

But how was I to guess in which direction 
lay Sari? 

And if I set out to search — what then? 






The Mahar spread her giant wings and sped away 


. . . —; — ’ .■ - . . - ... . 













• ■ 




















' 





- 














■ g 



























LOST ON PELLUCIDAR 


21 


V 


Could I find my way back to the pros¬ 
pector with its priceless freight of books, 
firearms, ammunition, scientific instruments, 
and still more books — its great library of 
reference works upon every conceivable 
branch of applied sciences? 

And if I could not, of what value was all 
this vast storehouse of potential civilization 
and progress to be to the world of my adop¬ 
tion ? 

Upon the other hand, if I remained here 
alone with it, what could I accomplish 
single-handed? 

Nothing. 

But where there was no east, no west, no 
north, no south, no stars, no moon, and only 
a stationary midday sun, how was I to find 
my way back to this spot should ever I get 
out of sight of it ? 

I didn’t know. 

For a long time I stood buried in deep 
thought, when it occurred to me to try out 
one of the compasses I had brought and 
ascertain if it remained steadily fixed upon 
an unvarying pole. I reentered the prospec- 




22 


tor and fetched a compass without. 

Moving a considerable distance from the 
prospector that the needle might not be 
influenced by its great bulk of iron and steel, 
I turned the delicate instrument about in 
every direction. 

Always and steadily the needle remained 
rigidly fixed upon a point straight out to sea, 
apparently pointing toward a large island 
some ten or twenty miles distant. This then 
should be north. 

I drew my note-book from my pocket and 
made a careful topographical sketch of the 
locality within the range of my vision. Due 
north lay the island, far out upon the shim¬ 
mering sea. . 

The spot I had chosen for my observa- 
tions was the top of a large, flat boulder 
which rose six or eight feet above the turf. 
This spot I called Greenwich. The boulder 
was the ‘"Royal Observatory.” 

I had made a start! I cannot tell vou 
what a sense of relief was imparted to me by 
the simple fact that there was at least one 
spot within Pellucidar with a familiar name 


































PELLUCIDAR 


a on a map. 

It was with almost childish joy that I 
made a little circle in my note-book and 
traced the word Greenwich beside it. 

Now I felt I might start out upon my 
search with some assurance of finding my 
way back again to the prospector. 

1 decided that at first I would travel 
directly south in the hope that I might in 
that direction find some familiar landmark. 
It was as good a direction as any. This 
much at least might be said of it. 

Among the many other things I had 
brought from the outer world were a num¬ 
ber of pedometers. I slipped three of these 
into my pockets with the idea that i might 
arrive at a more or less accurate mean from 
the registrations of them all. 

On my map I would register so many 
paces south, so many east, so many west, 
and so on. When I was ready to return I 
would then do so by any route that I might 
choose. 

I also strapped a considerable quantity of 
ammunition across my shoulders, pocketed 





LOST ON PELLUCIDAR 


25 


some matches, and hooked an aluminum fry- 
pan and a small stew-kettle of the same 
metal to my belt. 

I was ready — ready to go forth and 
explore a world! 

Ready to search a land area of 124,110,000 
square miles for my friends, my incompar- * 
able mate, and good old Perry! 

And so, after locking the door in the outer 
shell of the prospector, I set out upon my 
quest. Due south I traveled, across lovely 
valleys thick-dotted with grazing herds. 

Through dense primeval forests I forced 
my way and up the slopes of mighty moun¬ 
tains searching for a pass to their farther 
sides. 

Ibex and musk-sheep fell before my good 
old revolver, so that I lacked not for food 
in the higher altitudes. The forests and the 
plains gave plentifully of fruits and wild 
birds, antelope, aurochsen, and elk. 

Occasionally, for the larger game animals 
and the gigantic beasts of prey, I used my 
express rifle, but for the most part the revol¬ 
ver filled all my needs. 





PELLUCIDAR 


There were times, too, when faced by a 
mighty cave bear, a saber-toothed tiger, or 
huge fells spelaeci, black-maned and terrible, 
even my powerful rifle seemed pitifully 
inadequate—Tut fortune favored me so that 
I passed unscathed through adventures that 
even the recollection of causes the short 
hairs to bristle at the nape of my neck. 

How long I wandered toward the south I 
do not know, for shortly after I left the pros¬ 
pector something went wrong with my 
watch, and I was again at the mercy of the 
baffling timelessness of Fellucidar, forging 
steadily ahead beneath the great, motionless 
sun which hangs eternally at noon. 

I ate many times, however, so that days 
must have elapsed, possibly months with no. 
familiar landscape rewarding my eager eyes, 

I saw no men nor signs of men. Nor is 
this strange, for Pellucidar, in its land area, 
is immense, while the human race there is 
very young and consequently far from 
numerous. 

Doubtless upon that long search mine was 
the first human foot to touch the soil h 





LOST ON PELLUCID 

many places-—mine the first human eye to 
rest upon the gorgeous wonders of the land¬ 
scape. 

It was a staggering thought. I could not 
but dwell upon it often as I made my lonely 
way through this virgin world. Then, quite 
suddenly, one day I stepped out of the peace 
of manless primality into the presence of 
man — and peace was gone. 

It happened thus: 

I had been following a ravine downward 

*• 

out of a chain of lofty hills and had paused 
at its mouth to view the lovely little valley 
that lay before me. At one side was tangled 
wood, while straight ahead a river wound 
peacefully along parallel to the cliffs in 
which the hills terminated at the valley’s 
edge. 

Presently, as I stood enjoying the lovely 
scene, as insatiate for Nature’s wo ;ders as if 
I had not looked upon similar landscapes 
countless times, a sound of shouting broke 
from the direction of the woods. That the 
harsh, discordant notes rose from the 
throats of men I could not doubt. 





PELLUCIDAR 


28 

I slipped behind a large boulder near the 
mouth of the ravine and waited. I could 
hear the crashing of underbrush in the for¬ 
est, and I guessed that whoever came came 
quickly — pursued and pursuers, doubtless. 

In a short time some hunted animal would 
break into view, and a moment later a score 
of half-naked savages would come leaping 
after with spears or clubs or great stone- 
knives. 

I had seen the thing so many times during 
my life within Pellucidar that I felt that I 
could anticipate to a nicety precisely what I 
was about to witness. I hoped that the 
hunters would prove friendly and be able to 
direct me toward Sari. 

Even as I was thinking these thoughts 
the quarry emerged from the forest. But it 
was no terrified four-footed beast. Instead, 
what I saw was an old man — a terrified old 
man! 

Staggering feebly and hopelessly from 
what must have been some very terrible fate, 
if one could judge from the horrified ex¬ 
pressions he continually cast behind him 




LOST ON PELLUCIDAR 


29 


toward the wood, he came stumbling on in 
my direction. 

He had covered but a short distance from 
the forest when I beheld the first of his pur¬ 
suers— a Sagoth, one of those grim and ter¬ 
rible gorilla-men who guard the mighty 
Mahars in their buried cities, faring forth 
from time to time upon slave-raiding or 
punitive expeditions against the human race 
of Pellucidar, of whom the dominant race of 
the inner world think as we think of the 
bison or the wild sheep of our own world. 

Close behind the foremost Sagoth came 
others until a full dozen raced, shouting 
after the terror-stricken old man. They 
would be upon him shortly, that was plain. 

One of them was rapidly overhauling him, 
his back-thrown spear-arm testifying to his 
purpose. 

And then, quite with the suddenness of an 
unexpected blow, I realized a past familiar¬ 
ity with the gait and carriage of the fugitive. 

Simultaneously there swept over me the 
staggering fact that the old man was — 
Perry! That he was about to die before my 




30 


PELLUCID AR 


very eyes with no hope that I could reach 
him in time to avert the awful catastrophe — 
for to me it meant a real catastrophe! 

Perry was my best friend. 

Dian, of course, I looked upon as more 
than friend. She was my mate — a part of 
me. 

I had entirely forgotten the rifle in my 
hand and the revolvers at my belt; one does 
not readily synchronize his thoughts with 
the stone age and the twentieth century 
simultaneously. 

Now from past habit I still thought in the 
stone age, and in my.thoughts of the stone 
age there were no thoughts of firearms. 

The fellow was almost upon Perry when 
the feel of the gun in my hand awoke me 
from the lethargy of terror that had gripped 
me. From behind my boulder* I threw up 
the heavy express rifle — a mighty engine of 
destruction that might bring down a cave 
bear or a mammoth at a single shot—-and 
let drive at the Sagoth’s broad, hairy brea> L- 

At the sound of the shot he stopped stock¬ 
still. His spear dropped from his hand. 







_ LOST ON PELLUCIDAR 31 

Then he lunged forward upon his face. 

The effect upon the others was little less 
remarkable. Perry alone could have pos¬ 
sibly guessed the meaning of the loud report 
or explained its connection with the sudden 
collapse of the Sagoth. The other gorilla- 
men halted for but an instant. Then with 
renewed shrieks of rage they sprang forward 
to finish Perry. 

At the same time I stepped from behind 
my boulder, drawing one of my revolvers 
that I might conserve the more precious 
ammunition of the express rifle. Quickly I 
fired again with the lesser weapon. 

Then it was that all eyes were directed 
toward me.. Another Sagoth feil to the bul- 

I 

let from the revolver; but it did not stop his 
companions. They were out for revenge as 
well as blood now, and they meant to have 
both. 

As I ran forward toward Perry I fired four 
more shots, dropping three of our antag¬ 
onists. Then at last the remaining seven 
wavered. It was too much for them, this 
roaring death that leaped, invisible, upon 





PELLUCIDAR 


them from a great distance. 

As they hesitated I reached Perry’s side. 
I have never seen such an expression upon 
any man’s face as that upon Perry’s when 
he recognized me. I have no words where¬ 
with to describe it. There was not time to 
talk then — scarce for a greeting. I thrust 
the full, loaded revolver into his hand, fired 
the last shot in my own, and reloaded. 
There were but six Sagoths left then. 

They started toward us once more, 
though I could see that they were terrified 
probably as much by the noise of the guns 
as by their effects. They never reached us. 
Half-way the three that remained turned 
and fled, and we let them go. 

The last we saw of them they were disap¬ 
pearing into the tangled undergrowth of the 
forest. And then Perry turned and threw 
his arms about my neck and, burying his old 
face upon my shoulder, wept like a child. 




CHAPTER II 

TRAVELING WITH TERROR 

W r E MADE camp there beside the peace 
ful river. There Perry told me all tha 
had befallen him since I had departed for th< 
outer crust. 

It seemed that Hooja had made it appea: 
that I had intentionally left Dian behind 
and that I did not purpose ever returning t< 
Pellucidar. He told them that I was o: 
another world and that I had tired of thi< 
and of its inhabitants. 

To Dian he had explained that I had a 
mate in the world to which I was returning; 
that I had never intended taking Dian the 
Beautiful back with me; and that she had 
seen .the last of me. 

Shortly afterward Dian had disappeared 
from the camp, nor had Perry seen or heard 
aught of her since. 

He had no conception of the time that had 
elapsed since I had departed, but guessed 
that many years had dragged their slow 
way into the past. 


33 


PEI .LUCIDAR 


>• 



Hooja, too, had disappeared very soon 
after Dian had left. The Sarians, under 
Ghak the Hairy One, and /the Amozites 
under Dacor the Strong One, Dian’s brother, 
had fallen out over my supposed defection, 
for Ghak would not believe that I had thus 
treacherously deceived and deserted them. 

The result had been that these two pow¬ 
erful tribes had fallen upon one another with 
the new weapons that Perry and T had 
taught them to make and to use. Other 
tribes of the new federation took sides with 
the original disputants or set up petty revo¬ 
lutions of their own. 

The result was the total demolition of the 
work we had so well started. 

Taking advantage of the tribal war, the 
Mahars had gathered their Sagoths in force 
and fallen upon one tribe after another in 
rapid succession, wreaking awful havoc 
among them and reducing them for the most 
part to as pitiable a state of terror as that 
from which we had raised them. 

Alone of all the once-mighty federal ion 
the Sarians and the Amozites with a few 







TRAVELING WITH TERROR 



other tribes continued to maintain their 
defiance of the Mahars; but these tribes were 
still divided among themselves, nor had it 
seemed at all probable to Perry when he had 
last been among them that any attempt at 
re-amalgamation would be made. 

“And thus, your majesty/’ he concluded, 
“has faded back into the oblivion of the 
Stone Age our wondrous dream and with it 
has gone the First Empire of Pellucidar.” 

We both had to smile at the use of my 
royal title, yet I was indeed still “ Emperor 
of Pellucidar,” and some day I meant to 
rebuild what the vile act of the treacherous 
Plooja had torn down. 

But first I would find my empress. To 
me she was worth forty empires. 

“ Have you no clue as to the whereabouts 


of Dian?” I asked. 

“ None whatever, 7 ’ replied Perry. “ It was 
in search of her that I came to the pretty 
pass in which you discovered rue, and from 
which, David, you saved me. 

“T knew perfectly well that you had not 
intentionally deserted either Dian or Pellu- 






PELLUCID AR 


, I guessed that in some way Hooja 
Sly One was at the bottom of the matter, 
md I determined to go to Amoz, where I 
guessed that Dian might come to the protec¬ 
tion of her brother, and do my utmost to 
convince her, and through her Dacor the 
Strong One, that we had all been victims of 
a treacherous plot to which you were no 
party. 

“ I came to Amoz after a most trying and 
terrible journey, only to find that Dian was 
not among her brother’s people and that 
they knew naught of her whereabouts. 

“ Dacor, I am sure, wanted to be fair and 
just, but so great were his grief and anger 
over the disappearance of his sister that he 
could not listen to reason, but kept repeating 
time and again that only your return to Pel- 
lucidar could prove the honesty of your 
intentions. 

“ Then came a stranger from another 
tribe, sent I am sure at the instigation of 
Hooja. He so turned the Amozites against 
me that I was forced to flee their country to 
escape assassination. 




TRAVELING WITH TERROR 


37 


<k In attempting to return to Sari I became 
lost, and then the Sagoths discovered me. 
For a long time I eluded them, hiding, in 
caves and wading in rivers to throw them 
off my trail. 

“I lived on nuts and fruits and the edible 
roots that chance threw in my way. 

“ I traveled on and on, in what directions 
I could not even guess; and at last I could 
elude them no longer and the end came as I 
had long foreseen that it would come, except 
that I had not forseen that you would be 
there to save me.” 

We rested in our camp until Perry had 
regained sufficient strength to travel again. 
We planned much, rebuilding all our shat¬ 
tered air-castles; but above all we planned 
most to find Dian. 

I could not believe that she was dead, yet 
where she might be in this savage world, 
and under what frightful conditions she 
might be living, I could not guess. 

When Perry was rested we returned to 
the prospector, where he fitted himself out 
fully like a civilized human being—under- 




PELLUCIDAR 


«* xtuntajitm- -m w—>fTn - WriiiMiww WHirnm —wi —a^———» n ««^M«a-.sni 

clothing, socks, shoes, khaki jacket and 
breeches and good, substantial puttees. 

When I had come upon him he was 
clothed in rough sad ok sandals, a gee-string 
and a tunic fashioned from the shaggy hide 
of a thag . Now he wore real clothing again 
for the first time since the ape-folk had 
stripped us of our apparel that long-gone day 
that had witnessed our advent within Pel- 
ucidar. 

With a bandoleer of cartridges across his 
shoulder, two six-shooters at his hips, and a 
rifle in his hand he was a much rejuvenated 
Perry. 

Indeed he was quite a different per on 
altogether from the rather shaky old man 
who had entered the prospector with nic ten 
or eleven years before, for the trial 1. ip that 
had plunged us into such wondrous adven¬ 
tures and into such a strange and hitherto 
undreamed-of w r orld. 

Now he was straight and active. I t is 
muscles, almost atrophied from disuse in his 
former life, had filled out. 

He was still an old man of course, but 





TRAVELING WITH TERROR 


39 


instead of appearing ten years older than he 
really was, as he had when we left the outer 
world, he now appeared about ten years 
younger. The wild, free life of Pellucidar 
had worked wonders for him. 

Well, it must need have done so or killed 
him, for a man of Perry’s former physical 
condition could not long have survived the 
dangers and rigors of the primitive life of 
the inner world. 

Perry had been greatly interested in my 
map and in the “royal observatory” at 
Greenwich. By use of the pedometers we 
had retraced our way to the prospector with 
ease and accuracy. 

Now that we were read}^ to set out again 
we decided to follow a different route on the 
chance that it might lead us into more famil¬ 
iar territory.. 

I shall not weary you with a repetition of 
the countless adventures of our long search. 
Encounters with wild beasts of gigantic 
size were of almost daily occurrence; but 
with our deadly express rifles we ran com¬ 
paratively little risk when one recalls that 





40 


PELLUCID. 


previously we had both traversed this world 
of frightful dangers inadequately armed 
with crude, primitive weapons and all but 
naked. 

We ate and slept many times — so many 
that we lost count — and so I do not know 
how long we roamed, though our map shows 
the distances and directions quite accurately. 
We must have covered a great many thou¬ 
sand square miles of territory, and yet we 
had seen nothing in the way of a familiar 
landmark, when from the heights of a 
mountain-range we were crossing I descried 
far in the distance great masses of billowing 
clouds. 

Now clouds are practically unknown in 
the skies of Pellucidar. The moment that 
my eyes rested upon them my heart leaped. 
I seized Perry’s arm and, pointing toward 
the horizonless distance, shouted: 

“The Mountains of the Clouds!” 

“They lie close to Phutra, and the c< 
try of our worst enemies, the Mahc 
Perry remonstrated. 

“I know it,” I replied, “but they give 






TRAVELING WITH TERROR 


41 


starting-point from which to prosecute our 
search intelligently. They are at least a 
familiar landmark. 

“They tell us that we are upon the right 
trail and not wandering far in the wrong 
direction. 

“ Furthermore, close to the Mountains of 
the Clouds dwells a good friend, Ja the 
Mezop. You did not know him, but you 
know all that he did for me and all that he 
will gladly do to aid me. 

“At least he can direct us upon the right 
direction toward Sari.” 

“The Mountains of the Clouds constitute 
a mighty range,” replied Perry. “They 
must cover an enormous territory. How are 
you to find your friend in all the great coun¬ 
try that is visible from their rugged flanks?” 

“Easily/’ I answered him, “for Ja gave 
me minute directions. I recall almost his 
exact words: 

“‘You need merely come to the foot of the 
highest peak of the Mountains of the Clouds. 
There you will find a river that flows into 
the Lural Az. 




42 


PELLUCIDAR 


“ ‘ Directly opposite the mouth of the river 
you will see three large islands far out — so 
far that they are barely discernible. The one 
to the extreme left as you face them from 
the mouth of the river is Anoroc, where I 
rule the tribe of Anoroc.’ ” 

And so we hastened onward toward the 
great cloud-mass that was to be our guide 
for several weary marches. At last we came 
close to the towering crags, Alp-like in their 
grandeur. 

Rising nobly among its noble fellows, one 
stupendous peak reared its giant head 
thousands of feet above the others. It was 
he whom we sought; but at its foot no river 
wound down toward any sea. 

“It must rise from the opposite side,” 
suggested Perry, casting a rueful glance at 
the forbidding heights that barred our fur¬ 
ther progress. “We cannot endure the 
arctic cold of those high flung passes, and 
to traverse the endless miles about this inter¬ 
minable range might require a year o more. 
The land we seek must lie upon the or aosite 
side of the mountains.” 





TRAVELING WITH TERROR 


43 


“ Then we must cross them/’ I insisted. 

Perry shrugged. 

“We can’t do it, David,” he repeated. 
“ We are dressed for the tropics. We should 
freeze to death among the snows and 
glaciers long before we had discovered a 
pass to the opposite side.” 

“We must cross them,” I reiterated. “We 
will cross them.” 

I had a plan, and that plan we carried out. 
It took some time. 

First we made a permament camp part 
way up the slopes where there was good 
water. Then we set out in search of the 
great, shaggy cave bear of the higher alti¬ 
tudes. 

He is a mighty animal — a terrible animal. 
He is but little larger than his cousin of the 
lesser, lower hills; but he makes up for it in 
the awfulness of his ferocity and in the 
length and thickness of his shaggy coat. It 
was his coat that we were after. 

We came upon him quite unexpectedly. I 
was trudging in advance along a rocky trail 
worn smooth by the padded feet of countless 




44 


PELLUCIDAR 


ages of wild beasts. At a shoulder of the 
mountain around which the path ran I came 
face to face with the Titan. 

I was going up for a fur coat. He was 
coming down for breakfast. Each realized 
that here was the very thing he sought. 

With a horrid roar the beast charged me. 

At my right the cliff rose straight upward 
for thousands of feet. 

At my left it dropped into a dim, abysmal 
canon. 

In front of me was the bear. 

Behind me was Perry. 

I shouted to him in warning, and then I 
raised my rifle and fired into the broad 
breast of the creature. There was no time to 
take aim; the thing was too close upon me. 

But that my bullet took effect was evident 
from the howl of rage and pain that broke 
from the frothing jowls. It didn't stop him, 
though. 

I fired again, and then he was upon me. 
Down I went beneath his ton of maddened, 
clawing flesh and bone and sinew. 

I thought my time had come. I remer 




TRAVELING WITH TERROR 


45 


ber feeling sorry for poor old Perry, left all 
alone in this inhospitable, savage world. 

And then of a sudden I realized that the 
bear was gone and that I was quite 
unharmed. I leaped to my feet, my rifle still 
clutched in my hand, and looked about for 
my antagonist. 

I thought that I should find him farther 
down the trail, probably finishing Perry, and 
so I leaped in the direction I supposed him 
to be, to find Perry perched upon a project¬ 
ing rock several feet above the trail. My 
cry of warning had given him time to reach 
this point of safety. 

There he squatted, his eyes wide and his 
mouth ajar, the picture of abject terror and 
consternation. 

“ Where is he?” he cried when he saw me. 
“ Where is he?” 

“ Didn’t he come this way?” I asked. 

“Nothing came this way,” replied the old 
man. “But I heard his roars — he must 
have been as large as an elephant.” 

“He was,” I admitted; “but where in the 
world do you suppose he disappeared to?” 




PELLUCID AR 


\6 

Then came a possible explanation to my 
mind. I returned to the point at which the 
bear had hurled me down and peered over 
the edge of the cliff into the abyss below. 

Far, far down I saw a small brown blotch 
near the bottom of the canon. It was the 
bear. 

My second shot must have killed him, and 
so his dead body, after hurling me to the 
path, had toppled over into the abyss. I 
shivered at the thought of how close I, too, 
must have been to going over with him. 

It took us a long time to reach the carcass, 
and arduous labor to remove the great pelt. 
But at last the thing was accomplished, and 
we returned to camp dragging the heavy 
trophy behind us. 

Here we devoted another considerable 
period to scraping and curing it. When this 
was done to our satisfaction we made heavy 
boots, trousers, and coats of the shaggy 
skin, turning the fur in. 

From the scraps we fashioned caps the 
came down around our ears, with flaps tha 
fell about our shoulders and breasts. W 





TRAVELING WITH TERROR 


47 


were now fairly well equipped for our search 
for a pass to the opposite side of the Moun¬ 
tains of the Clouds. 

Our first step now was to move our camp 
upward to the very edge of the perpetual 
snows which cap this lofty range. Here we 
built a snug, secure little hut, which we pn> 
visioned and stored with fuel for its dimin¬ 
utive fireplace. 

With our hut as a base we sallied forth in 
search of a pass across the range. 

Our every move was carefully noted upon 
our maps which we now kept in duplicate. 
By this means we were saved tedious and 
unnecessary retracing of way9 already 
explored. 

Systematically we worked upward in both’ 
directions from our base, and when we had 
at last discovered what seemed might prove 
a feasible pass we moved our belongings to 
a new hut farther up. 

It was hard work — coH, bitter, cruel 
work. Not a step did we take in advance 
but the grim reaper stroie silently in our 






48 


PELLUCIDAR 


There were the great cave bears in the 
timber, and gaunt, lean wolves — huge crea¬ 
tures twice the size of our Canadian timber- 
wolves. Farther up we were assailed by 
enormous white bears — hungry, devilish 
fellows, who came roaring across the rough 
glacier tops at the first glimpse of us, or 
stalked us stealthily by scent when they had 
not yet seen us. 

It is one of the peculiarities of life within 
Pellucidar that man is more often the hunted 
than the hunter. Myriad are the huge-bel¬ 
lied carnivora of this primitive world. 
Never, from birth to death, are those great 
bellies sufficiently filled, so always are their 
mighty owners prowling about in search of 
meat. 

Terribly armed for battle as they are, man 
presents to them in his primal state an easy 
prey, slow of foot, puny of strength, ill- 
equipped by nature with natural weapons of 
defense. 

The bears looked upon us as easy meat. 
Only our heavy rifles saved us from prompt 
extinction. Poor Perry never was a raging 






TRAVELING WITH TERROR 


49 


lion at heart, and I am convinced that the 
terrors of that awful period must have 
caused him poignant mental anguish. 

When we were abroad pushing our trail 
farther and farther toward the distant break 
which, we assumed, marked a feasible way 
across the range, we never knew at what 
second some great engine of clawed and 
fanged destruction might rush upon us from 
behind, or lie in wait for us beyond an ice- 
hummock or a jutting shoulder of the craggy 
steeps. 

The roar of our rifles was constantly 
shattering the world-old silence of stupen¬ 
dous canons upon which the eye of man had 
never before gazed. And when in the com¬ 
parative safety of our hut we lay down to 
sleep the great beasts roared and fought 
without the walls, clawed and battered at 
the door, or rushed their colossal frames 
headlong against the hut's sides until it 
rocked and trembled to the impact. 

Yes, it was a gay life. 

Perry had got to taking stock of our 
ammunition each time we returned to the 





50 


tuai 


PELLUCIDAR 


hut. It became something of an obsession 
with him. 

He’d count our cartridges one by one and 
then try to figure how long it would be 
before the last was expended and we must 
either remain in the hut until we starved to 
death or venture forth, empty, to fill the 
belly of some hungry bear. 

I must admit that I, too, felt worried, for 
our progress was indeed snail-like, and our 
ammunition could not last forever. In dis¬ 
cussing the problem, finally we came to the 
decision to burn our bridges behind us and 
make one last supreme effort to cross the 
divide. 

It would mean that we must go without 
sleep for a long period, and with the further 
chance that -when the time came that sleep 
could no longer be denied we might still be 
high in the frozen regions of perpetual snow 
and ice, where sleep would mean certain 
death, exposed as we would be to the attacks 
of wild beasts and without shelter from the 
hideous cold. 

But we decided that we must take • iK.se 




_ TRAVELING WITH TERROR 51 

chances, and so at last we set forth from our 
hut for the last time, carrying such necessi¬ 
ties as we felt we could least afford to do 
without. The bears seemed unusually 
troublesome and determined that time, and 
as we clambered slowly upward beyond the 
highest point to which we had previously 
attained, the cold became infinitely more 
intense. 

Presently, with two great bears dogging 
our footsteps we entered a dense fog. 

We had reached the heights that are so 
often cloud-wrapped for long periods. We 
could see nothing a few paces beyond our 
noses. 

We dared not turn back into the teeth of 
the bears which we could hear grunting 
behind us. To meet them in this bewilder¬ 
ing fog would have been to court instant 
death. 

Perry was almost overcome by the hope¬ 
lessness of our situation. H 2 flopped down 
on his knees and began to p ay. 

Ic was the first time I had heard him at his 
old habit since my return to Pellucidar, and 







4LLUCIDAR 


x iid.u. mougnt that he had given up his little 
idiosyncrasy; but he hadn’t. Far from it. 

I let him pray for a short time undis¬ 
turbed, and then as I was about to suggest 
that we had better be pushing along one of 
the bears in our rear let out a roar that made 
the earth fairly tremble beneath our feet. 

It brought Perry to his feet as if he had 
been stung by a wasp, and sent him racing 
ahead through the blinding fog at a gait that 
I knew must soon end in disaster were it not 
checked. 

Crevasses in the glacier-ice were far too 
frequent to permit of reckless speed even in 
a clear atmosphere, and then there were hid¬ 
eous precipices along the edges of which our 
way often led us. I shivered as I thought of 
the poor old fellow’s peril. 

At the top of my lungs I called to him to 
stop, but he did not answer me. And then I 
hurried on in the direction he had gone, 
faster by far than safety dictated. 

For a while I thought I heard him ahead 
of me, but at last, though I paused often to 
listen and to call to him, I heard nothing 




TRAVELING WITH TERROR 


53 


more, not even the grunting of the bears that 
had been behind us. All was deathly silence 
— the silence of the tomb. About me lay the 
thick, impenetrable fog. 

I was alone. Perry was gone — gone for¬ 
ever, I had not the slightest doubt. 

Somewhere near by lay the mouth of a 
treacherous fissure, and far down at its icy 
bottom lay all that was mortal of my old 
friend, Abner Perry. There would his body 
lie preserved in its icy sepulcher for count¬ 
less ages, until on some far distant day the 
slow-moving river of ice had wound its snail- 
like way down to the warmer level, there to 
disgorge its grisly evidence of grim tragedy, 
and what in that far future age, might mean 
baffling mystery. 




CHAPTER III 

SHOOTING THE CHUTES —AND AFTER 

HROUGH the fog I felt my way along 



JL by means of my compass. I no longer 
heard the bears, nor did I encounter one 
within the fog. 

Experience has since taught me that these 
great beasts are as terror-stricken by this 
phenomenon as a landsman by a fog at sea, 
and that no sooner does a fog envelop them 
than they make the best of their way to 
lower levels and a clear atmosphere. It was 
well for me that this .was true. 

I felt very sad and lonely as I crawled 
along the difficult footing. My own predica¬ 
ment weighed less heavily upon me than the 
loss of Perry, for I loved the old fellow. 

That I should ever win the opposite slopes 
of the range I began to doubt, for though I 
am naturally sanguine, I imagine that the 
bereavement which had befallen me had cast 
such a gloomjover my spirits that I could see 
no slightest ray of hope for the future. 

Then, too, the blighting, gray oblivion of 


54 


55 


} 

SHOOTING THE CHUTES 

the cold, damp clouds through which I wan ¬ 
dered was depressing. Hope thrives best in 
sunlight, and I am sure that it does not 
thrive at all in a fog. 

But the instinct of self-preservation is 
stronger than hope. It thrives, fortunately, 
upon nothing. It takes root upon the brink 
of the grave, and blossoms in the jaws of 
death. Now it flourished bravely upon the 
breast of dead hope, and urged me onward 
and upward in a stern endeavor to justify its 
existence. 

As I advanced the fog became denser. I 
could see nothing beyond my nose. Even 
the snow and ice I trod '/ere invisible. 

I could not see belo v the breast of my 
bearskin coat. I seem d to be floating in a 
sea of vapor. 

To go forward ov.r a dangerous glacier 
under such conditions was little short of 
madness; but I could not have stopped going 
had I known positively that death lay two 
paces before my nose. In the first place, it 
was too cold to stop, and in the second, I 
should have gone mad but for the excite- 






PELLUCID AR 


merit of the perils that beset each forward 
step. 

For some time the ground had been 
rougher and steeper, until I had been forced 
to scale a considerable height that had car¬ 
ried me from the glacier entirely. I was sure 
from my compass that I was following the 
right general direction, and so I kept on. 

Once more the ground was level. From 
the wind that blew about me I guessed that 
I must be upon some exposed peak or ridge. 

And then quite suddenly I stepped out 
into space. Wildly I turned and clutched 
at the ground that had slipped from beneath 
my feet. 

Only a smooth, icy surface was there. I 
found nothing to clutch or stay my fall, and a 
moment later so great was my speed that 
nothing could have stayed me. 

As suddenly as I had pitched into space, 
with equal suddenness did J emerge from the 
fog, out of which I shot like a projectile 
from a cannon into clear daylight. My 
speed was so great that I could see nothing 
about me but a blurred and indistinct sheet 






I 


SHOOTING THE CHUTES 57 

of smooth and frozen snow, that rushed past 
me with express-train velocity. 

I must have slid downward thousands of 
feet before the steep incline curved gently 
on to a broad, smooth, snow-covered 
plateau. Across this I hurtled with slowly 
diminishing velocity, until at last objects 
about me began to take definite shape. 

Far ahead, miles and miles away, I saw a 
great valley and mighty woods, and beyond 
these a broad expanse of water. In the 
nearer foreground I discerned a small, dark 
blob of color upon the shimmering; white¬ 
ness of the snow. 

“A bear/’ thought I, and thmked the 
instinct that had impelled me to cling tena¬ 
ciously to my rifle during the ' loments of 
my awful tumble. 

At the rate I was going it v ould be but a 
moment before I should be quite abreast the 
thing; nor was it long before I came to a 
sudden stop in soft snow upon which the 
sun was shining, not twenty paces from the 
object of my most immediate apprehension. 

It was standing upon its hind legs waiting 





58 


PELLUCIDAR 


for me. As I scrambled to my feet to meet 
it, I dropped my gun in the snow and 
doubled up with laughter. 

It was Perry. 

The expression upon his face, combined 
with the relief I felt at seeing him again 
safe and sound, was too much for my over¬ 
wrought nerves. 

“David!” he cried. “David, my boy! 
God has been good to an old man. He has 
answered my prayer.” 

It seems that Perry in his mad flight had 
plunged over the brink at about the same 
point as that at which I had stepped over it a 
short time later. Chance had done for us 
what long periods of rational labor had failed 
to accomplish. 

We had crossed the divide. We were 
upon the side of the Mountains of the Clouds 
that we had for so long been attempting to 
reach. 

We looked about. Below' us were green 
trees and warm jungles. In the distance was 
a great sea. 

“The Lural Az,” I said, pointing toward 





SHOOTING THE CHUTES 


59 


its blue-green surface. 

Somehow — the gods alone can explain 
it — Perry, too, had clung to his rifle during 
his mad descent of the icy slope. For that 
there was cause for great rejoicing. 

Neither of us was worse for his experience, 
so after shaking the snow from our clothing, 
we set off at a great rate down toward the 
warmth and comfort of the forest and the 
jungle. 

The going was easy by comparison with 
the awful obstacles we had had to encounter 
upon the opposite side of the divide. There 
were beasts, of course, but we came through 
safely. 

Before we halted to eat or rest, we stood 
beside a little mountain brook beneath the 
wondrous trees of the primeval forest in an 
atmosphere of warmth and comfort. It 
reminded me of an early June day in the 
Maine woods. 

We fell to work with our short axes and 
cut enough small trees to build a rude pro¬ 
tection from the fiercer beasts. Then we 
lay down to sleep. 




60 


PELLUCID A R 


How long we slept I do not know. Perry 
says that inasmuch as there is no means of 
measuring time within Pellucidar, there can 
be no such thing as time here, and that we 
may have slept an outer earthly year, or we 
may have slept but a second. 

But this I know. We had stuck the ends 
of some of the saplings into the ground in 
the building of our shelter first stripping the 
leaves and branches from them, and when 
we awoke we found that many of them had 
thrust forth sprouts. 

Personally, I think that we slept at least 
a month; but who may say? The sun 
marked midday when we closed our eves; it 
was still in the same position when we 
opened them; nor had it varied a hair’s 
breadth in the interim. 

It is most baffling, this question of elapsed 
time within Pellucidar. 

Anyhow, I was famished when we awoke. 
I think that it was the pangs of hunger that 
awoke me. Ptarmigan and wild boar fell 
before my revolver within a dozen moments 
of my awakening. Perry soon had a roaring 





_SHOOTING THE CHUTES 6i 

fire blazing by the brink of the little stream. 

It was a good and delicious meal we made. 
Though we did not eat the entire boar, we 
made a very large hole in him, while the 
ptarmigan was but a mouthful. 

Having satisfied our hunger, we deter¬ 
mined to set forth at once in search of 
Anoroc and my old friend, Ja the Mezop. 
We each thought jthat by following the little 
stream downward, we should come upon the 
large river which Ja had told me emptied 
into the Lural Az opposite his island. 

We did so; nor were we disappointed, for 
at last after a pleasant journey — and what 
journey would not be pleasant after the hard¬ 
ships we had endured among the peaks of 
the Mountains of the Clouds — we came 
upon a broad flood that rushed majestically 
onward in the direction of the great sea we 
had seen from the snowy slopes of the moun¬ 
tains. 

For three long marches we followed the 
left bank of the growing river, until at last 
we saw it roll its mighty volume into the vast 
waters of the sea. Far out across the rip- 







62 


PELLUCIDAR 


pling ocean we descried three islands. The 
one to the left must be Anoroc. 

At last we had come close to a solution of 
our problem — the road to Sari. 

But how to reach the islands was now the 
foremost question in our minds. We must 
build a canoe. 

Perry is a most resourceful man. He has 
an axiom which carries the thought-kernel 
that what man has done, man can do, and it 
doesn’t cut any figure with Perry whether 
a fellow knows how to do it or not. 

He set out to make gunpowder once, 
shortly after our escape from Phutra and at 
the beginning of the confederation of the 
wild tribes of Pellucidar. He said that some 
one, without any knowledge of the fact that 
such a thing might be concocted, had once 
stumbled upon it by accident, and so he 
couldn’t see why a fellow who knew 7 all 
about powder except how to make it couldn’t 
do as w r ell. 

He worked mighty hard mixing all sorts 
of things together, until finally he evolved a 
substance that looked like powder. He had 






SHOOTING THE CHUTES 


63 


i 

been very proud of the stuff, and had gone 
about the village of the Sarians exhibiting 
it to every one who would listen to him, and 
explaining what its purpose was and what 
terrific havoc it would work, until finally the 
natives became so terrified at the stuff that 
they wouldn’t come within a rod of Perry 
and his invention. 

Finally, I suggested that we experiment 
with it and see what it would do, so Perry 
built a fire, after placing the powder at a 
safe distance, and then touched a glowing 
ember to a minute particle of the deadly 
explosive. It extinguished the ember. 

Repeated experiments with it determined 
me that in searching for a high explosive, 
Perry had stumbled upon a fire-extinguisher 
that would have made his fortune for him 
back in our own world. 

So now he set himself to work to build a 
scientific canoe. I had suggested that we 
construct a dugout, but Perry convinced me 
that we must build something more in keep¬ 
ing with our positions of supermen in this 
world of the Stone Age. 





. 64 


PELLUCIDAR 


luur* 


“We must impress these natives with our 
superiority/* he explained. “You must not 
forget, David, that you are emperor of Pel- 
lucidar. As such you may not with dignity 
approach the shores of a foreign power in 
so crude a vessel as a dugout.” 

I pointed out to Perry that it wasn’t much 
more incongruous for the emperor to cruise 
in a canoe, than it was for the prime minister 
to attempt to build one with his own hands. 

He had to smile at that; but in extenuation 
of his act he assured me that it was quite 
customary for prime ministers to give their 
personal attention to the building of imperial 
navies; “and this,” he said, “is the imperial 
navy of his Serene Highness, David I, 
Emperor of the Federated Kingdoms of Pel- 
lucidar.” 

I grinned; but Perry was quite serious 
about it. It had always seemed rather more 
or less of a joke to me that I should be 
addressed as majesty and all the rest of it. 
Yet my imperial power and dignity had been 
a very real thing during my brief reign. 

Twenty tribes had joined the federation, 





SHOOTING THE CHUTES 65 

and their chiefs had sworn eternal fealty to 
one another and to rne. Among them were 
many powerful though savage nations. 
Their chiefs we had made kings; their tribal 
lands kingdoms. 

We had armed them with bows and 
arrows and swords, in addition to their own 
more primitive weapons. I had trained 
them in military discipline and in so much 
of the art of war as I had gleaned from 
extensive reading of the campaigns of 
Napoleon, Von Moltke, Grant, and the 
ancients. 

We had marked out as best we could nat¬ 
ural boundaries dividing the various king¬ 
doms. We had warned ti bes beyond these 
boundaries that they must not trespass, 
and we had marched a ;ainst and severely 
punished those who h: i. 

We had met and debated the Mahars and 
the Sagoths. In short, we had demonstrated 
our rights to empire and very rapidly were 
we being recogniz- 1 and heralded abroad 
when my departu e for the outer world 
and Hooja’s treacnery had set us back. 





66 


PELLUCIDAR 


But now I had returned. The work that 
fate had undone must be done again, and 
though I must need smile at my imperial 
honors, I none the less felt the weight of 
duty and obligation that rested upon my 
shoulders. 

Slowly the imperial navy progressed 
toward completion. She was a wondrous 
craft, but I had my doubts about her. When 
I voiced them to Perry, he reminded me 
gently that my people for many generations 
had been mine-owners, not ship-builders, 
and consequently I couldn’t be expected to 
know much about the matter. 

I was minded to inquire into his heredi¬ 
tary fitness to design battleships; but inas¬ 
much as I already knew that his father had 
been a minister in a backwoods village far 
from the coast, I hesitated lest I offend the 
dear old fellow. 

He was immensely serious about his 
work, and I must admit that in so far as 
appearances went he did extremely well with 
the meager tools and assistance at his com¬ 
mand. We had only two short axes and our 




SHOOTING THE CHUTES 


6 7 


hunting-knives; yet with these we hewed 
trees, split them into planks, surfaced and 
fitted them. 

The “navy ” was some forty feet in length 
by ten feet beam. Her sides were quite 
straight and fully ten feet high — “for the 
purpose,” explained Perry, “of adding dig¬ 
nity to her appearance and rendering it less 
easy for an enemy to board her.” 

As a matter of fact, I knew that he had had 
in mind the safety of her crew under javelin- 
fire— the lofty sides made an admirable 
shelter. Inside she reminded me of 
nothing so much as a floating trench. There 
was also some slight analogy to a huge 
coffin. 

Her prow sloped sharply backward from 
the water-line — quite like a line of battle¬ 
ship. Perry had designed her more for her 
moral effect upon an enemy, I think, than 
for any real harm she might inflict, and so 
those parts which were to show were the 
most imposing. 

Below the water-line she was practically 
non-existent. She should have had consid- 





PELLUCIDAR 


ble draft; but, as the enemy couldn't have 
[n it, Perry decided to do away with it, 
d so made her flat-bottomed. It was this 
at caused my doubts about her. 

There was another little idiosyncrasy of 
sign that escaped us both until she was 
about ready to launch — there was no 
method of propulsion. Her sides were far 
too high to permit the use of sweeps, and 
when Perry suggested that we pole her, I 
remonstrated on the grounds that it would 
be a most undignified and awkward manner 
of sweeping down upon the foe, even if we 
could find or wield poles that would reach to 
the bottom of the ocean. 

Finally I suggested that we convert her 
into a sailing vessel. When once the idea 
took hold Perry was most enthusiastic about 
it, and nothing would do but a four-masted, 
full-rigged ship. 

Again I tried to dissuade him, but he was 
simply crazy over the psychological effect 
which the appearance of this strange and 
mighty craft would have upon the natives of 
Pellucidar. So we rigged her with thin hides 






SHOOTING THE CHUTES 


69 

for sails and dried gut for rope. 

Neither of us knew much about sailing a 
full-rigged ship; but that didn’t worry me a 
great deal, for I was confident that we should • 
never be called upon to do so, and as the day 
of launching approached I was positive of it. 

We had built her upon a low bank of the 
river close to where it emptied into the sea, 
and just above high tide. Her keel we had 
laid upon several rollers cut from small trees, 
the ends of the rollers in turn resting upon 
parallel tracks of long saplings. Her stern 
was toward the water. 

A few hours before we were ready to 
launch her she made quite an imposing pic¬ 
ture, for Perry had insisted upon setting 
every shred of “ canvas.” I told him that I 
didn’t know much about it, but I was sure 
that at launching the hull only should have 
been completed, everything else being com¬ 
pleted after she had floated safely. 

At the last minute there was some delay 
while we sought a name for her. I wanted 
her christened the Perry in honor both of 
her designer and that other great naval 





•LLUCIDAR 


0 __ cxuyjLiier world, Captain Oliver 

Hazard Perry, of the United States Navy. 
But Perry was too modest; he wouldn't hear 
of it. 

We finally decided to establish a system 
in the naming of the fleet. Battle-ships of 
the first class should bear the names of king¬ 
doms of the federation; armored cruisers 
the names of kings; cruisers the names of 
cities, and so on down the line. Therefore, 
we decided to name the first battle-ship Sari, 
after the first of the federated kingdoms. 

The launching of the Sari proved easier 
than I contemplated. Perry wanted me to 
get in and break something over the bow as 
she floated out upon the bosom of the river, 
but I told him that I should feel safer on dry 
land until I saw which side up the Sari would 
float. 

I could see by the expression of the old 
man's face that my words had hurt him; but 
I noticed that he didn't offer to get in him¬ 
self, and so I felt less contrition than I might 
otherwise. 

When we cut the ropes and removed the 




SHOOTING THE CHUTES 


71 


blocks that held the Sari in place she started 
for the water with a lunge. Before she hit 
it she was going at a reckless speed, for we 
had laid our tracks quite down to the water, 
greased them, and at intervals placed rollers 
all ready to receive the ship as she moved 
forward with stately dignity. But there was 
no dignity in the Sari. 

When she touched the surface of the 
river she must have been going twenty or 
thirty miles an hour. Her momentum car¬ 
ried her well out into the stream, until she 
came to a sudden halt at the end of the long 
line which we had had the foresight to attach 
to her bow and fasten to a large tree upon 
the bank. 

The moment her progress was checked 
she promptly capsized. Perry was over¬ 
whelmed. I didn’t upbraid him, nor remind 
him that I had "told him so.” 

His grief was so genuine and so apparent 
that I didn’t have the heart to reproach him, 
even were I inclined to that particular sort 
of meanness. 

"Come, come, old man!” I cried. "It’s 





72 


PELLUCIDAR 


not as bad as it looks. Give me a hand with 
this rope, and we'll drag her up as far as we 
can; and then when the tide goes out w T e’ll 
try another scheme. I think we can make 
a go of her yet.” 

Well, we managed to get her up into shal¬ 
low water. When the tide receded she lay 
there on her side in the mud, quite a pitiable 
object for the premier battle-ship of a world 
— "the terror of the seas” was the way 
Perry had occasionally described her. 

We had to work fast; but before the tide 
came in again we had stripped her of her 
sails and masts, righted her, and filled her 
about a quarter full of rock ballast. If she 
didn’t stick too fast in the mud I was sure 
that she would float this time right side up. 

I can tell you that it was with palpitating 
hearts that we sat upon the river-bank and 
watched that tide come slowly in. The tides 
of Pellucidar don’t amount to much by com¬ 
parison with our higher tides of the outer 
world, but I knew that it ought to prove 
ample to float the Sari. 

Nor was I mistaken. Finally we had the 





SHOOTING THE CHUTES 


73 


satisfaction of seeing the vessel rise out of 
the mud and float slowly up-stream with the 
tide. As the water rose we pulled her in 
quite close to the bank and clambered 
aboard. 

She rested safely now upon an even keel; 
nor did she leak, for she was well calked with 
fiber and tarry pitch. We rigged up a single 
short mast and light sail, fastened planking 
down over the ballast to form a deck, worked 
her out into midstream with a couple of 
s'weeps, and dropped our primitive stone 
anchor to await the turn of the tide that 
would bear us out to sea. 

While we waited we devoted the time to 
the construction of an upper deck, since the 
one immediately above the ballast was some 
seven feet from the gunwale. The second 
deck was four feet above this. In it was a 
large, commodious hatch, leading to the 
lower deck. The sides of the ship rose three 
feet above the upper deck, forming an excel¬ 
lent breastwork, which we loopholed at 
intervals that we might lie prone and fire 
upon an enemy. 





74 


PELLUCIDAR 


Though we were sailing out upon a peace¬ 
ful mission in search of my friend Ja, we. 
knew that we might meet with people of 
some other island who would prove 
unfriendly. 

At last the tide turned. We weighed 
anchor. Slowly we drifted down the great 
river toward the sea. 

About us swarmed the mighty denizens of 
the primeval deep — plesiosauri and ichthyo- 
sauria with all their horrid, slimy cousins 
whose names were as the names of aunts 
and uncles to Perry, but which I have never 
been able to recall an hour after having 
heard them. 

At last we were safely launched upon the 
journey to which we had looked forward for 
so long, and the results of which meant so 
much to me. 






CHAPTER IV 


FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY 


T HE Sari proved a most erratic craft. 

She might have done well enough upon 
a park lagoon if safely anchored, but upon 
the bosom of a mighty ocean she left much 
to be desired. 

Sailing with the wind she did her best; 
but in quartering or when close-hauled she 
drifted terribly, as a nautical man might 
have guessed she would. We couldn’t keep 
within miles of our course, and our progress 
was pitifully slow. 

Instead of making for the island of 
Anoroc, we bore far to the right, until it 
became evident that we should have to pass 
between the two right-hand islands and 
attempt to return toward Anoroc from the 
opposite side. 

As we neared the islands Perry was quite 
overcome by their beauty. When we were 
directly between two of them he fairly went 
into raptures; nor could I blame him. 

The tropical luxuriance of the foliage that 

75 


76 


PELLUCID AR 


dipped almost to the water’s edge and the 
vivid colors of the blooms that shot the 
green made a most gorgeous spectacle. 

Perry was right in the midst of a flowery 
panegyric on the wonders of the peaceful 
beauty of the scene when a canoe shot out 
from the nearest island. There were a dozen 
warriors in it; it was quickly followed by a 
second and third. 

Of course we couldn’t know the intentions 
of the strangers, but we could pretty well 
guess them. 

Perry wanted to man the sweeps and try 
to get away from them, but I soon convinced 
him that any speed of which the Sari was 
capable would be far too slow to outdistance 
* the swift, though awkward, dugouts of the 
Mezops. 

I waited until they were quite close 
enough to hear me, and then I hailed them. 
I told them that we were friends of "the 
Mezops, and that we were upon a visit to Ja 
of Anoroc, to which they replied that the 
were at war with Ja, and that if we would 
wait a minute they’d board us and throw our 





FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY 


corpses to the azdyryths. 

I warned them that they would get the 
worst of it if they didn’t leave us alone, but 
they only shouted in derision and paddled 
swiftly toward us. It was evident that they 
were considerably impressed by the appear¬ 
ance and dimensions of our craft, but as 
these fellows know no fear they were not at 
all awed. 

Seeing that they were determined to give 
battle, I leaned over the rail of the Sari and 
brought the imperial battle-squadron of the 
Emperor of Pellucidar into action for the 
first time in the history of a world. In other 
and simpler words, I fired my revolver at the 
nearest canoe. 

The effect was magical. A warrior rose 
from his knees, threw his paddle aloft, stif¬ 
fened into rigidity for an instant, and then 
toppled overboard. 

Tir others ceased paddling, and, with 
wide eyes, looked first at me and then at the 
battling sea-things which fought for the 
corpse of their comrade. To them it must 
have seemed a miracle that I should be able 







to stand at thrice the range of the most pow¬ 
erful javelin-thrower and with a loud noise 
and a smudge of smoke slay one of their 
number with an invisible missile. 

But only for an instant were they par¬ 
alyzed with wonder. Then, with savage 
shouts, they fell once more to their paddles 
and forged rapidly toward us. 

Again and again I fired. At each shot a 
warrior sank to the bottom of the canoe or 
tumbled overboard. 

When the prow of the first craft touched 
the side of the Sari it contained only dead 
and dying men. The other two dugouts 
were approaching rapidly, so I turned my 
attention toward them. 

I think that they must have been com¬ 
mencing to have some doubts — those wild, 
naked, red warriors — for when the first man 
fell in the second boat the others stopped 
paddling and commenced to jabber among 
themselves. 

The third boat pulled up alongside the 
second and its crews joined in the confer¬ 
ence. Taking advantage of the lull in the 


FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY 79 


battle, I called out to the survivors to return 
to their shore. 

I have no fight with you,” I cried, and 
then I told them who I was and added that 
if they would live in peace they must sooner 
or later join forces with me. 

“ Go back now to your people,” I coun¬ 
seled them, “and tell them that you have 
seen David I, Emperor of the Federated 
Kingdoms of Pellucidar, and that single- 
handed he has overcome you, just as he 
intends overcoming the Mahars and the 
Sagoths and any other peoples of Pellucidar 
who threaten the peace and welfare of his 
empire.” 

Slowly they turned the noses of their 
canoes toward land. It was evident that 
they were impressed; yet that they were 
loath to give up without further contesting 
my claim to naval supremacy was also 
apparent, for some of their number seemed 
to be exhorting the others to a renewal of 
the conflict. 

However, at last they drew slowly away, 
and the Sari, which had not decreased her 





80 


PELLUCIDAR 


snail-like speed during this, her first engage¬ 
ment, continued upon her slow, uneven way. 

Presently Perry stuck his head up through 
the hatch and hailed me. 

“Have the scoundrels departed ?” he 
asked. “Have vou killed them all?’' 

“ Those whom I failed to kill have 
departed, Perry,” I replied. 

He came out on deck and, peering over the 
side, descried the lone canoe floating a short 
distance astern with its grim and grisly 
freight. Farther his eyes wandered to the 
retreating boats. 

“ David,” said he at Iasi, “ this is a notable 
occasion. It is a great day in the annals of 
Pellucidar. We have won a glorious vic¬ 
tory. 

“Your majesty’s navy has routed a fleet 
of the enemy thrice its own size, manned by 
ten times as many men. Let us give thanks.” 

I could scarce restrain a smile at Perry’s 
use of the pronoun “we,” yet I was glad to 
share the rejoicing with him as I shall 
always be glad to share everything with the 
dear old fellow. 




FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY 81 


Perry is the only male coward I have ever 
known whom I could respect and love. He 
was not created for fighting; but I think 
that if the occasion should ever arise where 
it became necessary he would give his life 
cheerfully for me — yes, I know it. 

It took us a long time to work around the 
islands and draw in close to Anoroc. In the 
leisure afforded we took turns working on 
our map, and by means of the compass and 
a little guesswork we set down the shore- 
line we had left and the three islands with 
fair accuracy. 

Crossed sabers marked the spot where the 
first great naval engagement of a world had 
taken place. In a note-book we jotted down, 
as had been our custom, details that would 
be of historical value later. 

Opposite Anoroc we came to anchor quite 
close to shore. I knew from my previous 
experience with the tortuous trails of the 
island that I could never find my way inland 
to the hidden tree-village of the Mezop 
chieftain, Ja; so we remained aboard the 
Sari, firing* our express rifles at intervals to 






82 


PELLUCIDAR 


attract the attention of the natives. 

After some ten shots had been fired at 
considerable intervals a body of copper- 
colored warriors appeared upon the shore. 
They watched us for a moment and then I 
hailed them, asking the whereabouts of my 
old friend Ja. 

They did not reply at once, but stood with 
their heads together in serious and animated 
discussion. Continually they turned their 
eyes toward our strange craft. It was evi¬ 
dent that they were greatly puzzled by our 
appearance as well as unable to explain the 
source of the loud noises that had attracted 
their attention to us. At last one of the war¬ 
riors addressed us. 

‘‘Who are you who seek Ja?” he asked. 
“What would you of our chief?” 

“ We are friends,” I replied. “ I am David. 
Tell Ja that David, whose life he once saved 
from a sithic, has come again to visit him. 

“ If you will send out a canoe we will come 
ashore. We cannot bring our great war¬ 
ship closer in.” 

Again they talked for a considerable time. 




AND TREACHERY 83 


Then two of them entered a canoe that sev¬ 
eral dragged from its hiding-place in the 
jungle and paddled swiftly toward us. 

They were magnificent specimens of man¬ 
hood. Perry had never seen a member of 
this red race close to before. In fact, the 
dead men if 1 — ncfpm 

after the 
paddling 
first he e^ 

impressed by their physical beauty and the 
promise of superior intelligence which their 
well-shaped skulls gave. 

The two who now paddled out received us 
into their canoe with dignified courtesy. To 
my inquiries relative to Ja they explained 
that he had not been in the village when our 
signals were heard, but that runners had 
been sent out after him and that doubtless 
he was already upon his way to the coast. 

One of the men remembered me from the 
occasion of my former visit to the island; he 
was extremely agreeable the moment that 
he came close enough to recognize me. He 
said th; d be delighted to welcome 






84 


PELLUCID AR 


me, and that all the tribe of Anoroc knew of 
me by repute, and had received explicit 
instructions from their chieftain that if any 
of them should ever come upon me to show 
me every kindness and attention. 

Upon shore we were received with equal 
honor. While we stood conversing with our 
bronze friends a tall warrior leaped suddenly 
from the jungle. 

It was Ja. As his eyes fell upon me his 
face lighted with pleasure. He came quickly 
forward to greet me after the manner of his 
tribe. 

Toward Perry he was equally hospitable. 
The old man fell in love with the savage 
giant as completely as had I. Ja conducted 
us along the maze-like trail to his strange 
village, where he gave over one of the tree- 
houses for our exclusive use. 

Perry was much interested in the unique 
habitation, which resembled nothing so 
much as a huge wasp's nest built around 
the bole of a tree well above the ground. 

After we had eaten and rested Ja came to 
see us with a number of his head men. They 


c 







FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY 85 


listened attentively to my story, which 
included a narrative of the events leading to 
the formation of the federated kingdoms, the 
battle with the Mahars, my journey to the 
outer world, and my return to Pellucidar and 
search for Sari and my mate. 

Ja told me that the Mezops had heard 
something of the federation and had been 
much interested in it. He had even gone so 
far as to send a party of warriors toward 
Sari to investigate the reports, and to 
arrange for the entrance of Anoroc into the 
empire in case it appeared that there was any 
truth in the rumors that one of the aims of 
the federation was the overthrow of the. 
Mahars. 

The delegation had met with a party of 
Sagoths. As there had been a truce between 
the Mahars and the Mezops for many gen¬ 
erations, they camped with these warriors, 
of the reptiles, from whom they learned that 
the federation had gone to pieces. So the 
party returned to Anoroc. 

When I showed Ja our map and explained 
its purpose to him, he was much interested. 




86 


PELLUCIDAR 


The. location of Anoroc, the Mountains of 
the Clouds, the river, and the strip of sea- 
coast were all familiar to him. 

He quickly indicated the position of the 
inland sea and, close beside it, the city of 
Phutra, where one of the powerful Mahar 
nations had its seat. He likewise showed 
us where Sari should be and carried his own 
coast-line as far north and south as it was 
known to him. 

His additions to the map convinced us 
that Greenwich lay upon the verge of this 
same sea, and that it might be reached by 
water more easily than by the arduous cross¬ 
ing of the mountains or the dangerous 
approach through Phutra, which lay almost 
directly in line between Anoroc and Green¬ 
wich to the northwest. 

If Sari lay upon the same water then the 
shore-line must bend far back toward the 
southwest of Greenwich — an assumption 
which, by the way, we found later to be true. 
Also, Sari was upon a lofty plateau at the 
southern end of a mighty gulf of the Great 
Ocean. 




FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY 87 


The location which Ja gave to distant 
Amoz puzzled us, for it placed it due north 
of Greenwich, apparently in mid-ocean. As 
Ja had never been so far and knew only of 
Amoz through hearsay, we thought that he 
must be mistaken; but he was not. Amoz 
lies directly north of Greenwich across the 
mouth of the same gulf as that upon which 
Sari is. 

The sense of direction and location of 
these primitive Pellucidarians is little short 
of uncanny, as I have had occasion to remark 
in the past. You may take one of them to 
the uttermost ends of his world, to places of 
which he has never even heard, yet without 
sun or moon or stars to guide him, without 
map or compass, he v/ill travel straight for 
home in the shortest direction. 

Mountains, rivers, and seas may have to 
be gone around, but never once does his 
sense of direction fail him — the homing 
instinct is supreme. 

In the same remarkable way they never 
forget the location of any place to which 
they have ever been, and know that of many 




88 


PELLUCIDAR 


of which they have only heard from others 
who have visited them. 

In short, each Pellucidarian is a walking 
geography of his own district and of much 
of the country contiguous thereto. It always 
proved of the greatest aid to Perry and me; 
nevertheless we were anxious to enlarge our 
map, for we at least were not endowed with 
the homing instinct. 

After several long councils it was decided 
that, in order to expedite matters, Perry 
should return to the prospector with a 
strong party of Mezops and fetch the freight 
I had brought from the outer world, ja and 
his warriors were much impressed by our 
firearms, and were also anxious to build 
boats with sails. 

As we had arms at the prospector and also 
books on boat-building we thought that it 
might prove an excellent idea to start these 
naturally maritime people upon the con¬ 
struction of a well built navy of stanch sail¬ 
ing-vessels. I was sure that with definite 
plans to go by Perry could oversee the con¬ 
struction of an adequate flotilla. 




- FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY 89 

I warned him, however, not to be too 
ambitious, and to forget about dreadnoughts 
and armored cruisers for a while and build 
instead a few small sailing-boats that could 
be manned by four or five men. 

I was to proceed to Sari, and while prose¬ 
cuting my search for Dian attempt at the 
same time the rehabilitation of the federa¬ 
tion. Perry was going as far as possible by 
water, with the chances that the entire trip 
might be made in that manner, which proved 
to be the fact. 

With a couple of Mezops as companions 
I started for Sari. In order to avoid cross¬ 
ing the principal range of the Mountains of 
the Clouds we took a route that passed a lit¬ 
tle way south of Phutra. We had eaten four 
times and slept once, and were, as my com¬ 
panions told me, not far from the great 
Mahar city, when we were suddenly con¬ 
fronted by a considerable band of Sagoths. 

They did not attack us, owing to the peace 
which exists between the Mahars and the 
Mezops, but I could see that they looked 
upon me with considerable suspicion. My 




90 


PELLUCIDAR 


friends told them that I was a stranger from 
a remote country, and as we had previously 
planned against such a contingency I pre¬ 
tended ignorance of the language which the 
human beings of Pellucidar employ in con¬ 
versing with the gorilla-like soldiery of the 
Mahars. 

I noticed, and not without misgivings, that 
the leader of the Sagoths eyed me with an 
expression that betokened partial recogni¬ 
tion. I was sure that he had seen me before 
during the period of my incarceration in 
Phutra and that he was trying to recall my 
identity. 

It worried me not a little. I was extremely 
thankful when we bade them adieu and con¬ 
tinued upon our journey. 

Several times during the next few marches 
I became acutely conscious of the sensation 
of being watched by unseen eyes, but I did 
not speak of my suspicions to my compan¬ 
ions. Later I had reason to regret my reti¬ 
cence, for- 

Well, this is how it happened: 

We had killed an antelope and after eat- 





FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY 91 


ing our fill I had lain down to sleep. The 
Pellucidarians, who seem seldom if ever to 
require sleep, joined me in this instance, for 
we had had a very trying march along the 
northern foothills of the Mountains of the 
Clouds, and now with their bellies filled with 
meat they seemed ready for slumber. 

When I awoke it was with a start to find 
a couple of huge Sagoths astride me. They 
pinioned my arms and legs, and later chained 
my wrists behind my back. Then they let 
me up. 

I saw my companions; the brave fellows 
lay dead where they had slept, javelined to 
death without a chance at self-defense. 

I was furious. I threatened the Sagoth 
leader with all sorts of dire reprisals; but 
when he heard me speak the hybrid language 
that is the medium of communication 
between his kind and the human race of the 
inner world he only grinned, as tfruch as to 
say, “I thought so!” 

They had • not taken my revolvers or 
ammunition away from me because they did 
not know what they were; but my heavy 




92 


PELLUCIDAR 


rifle I had lost. They simply left it where it 
had lain beside me. 

So low in the scale of intelligence are they, 
that they had not sufficient interest in this 
strange object even to fetch it along with 
them. 

I knew from the direction of our march 
that they were taking me to Phutra. Once 
there I did not need much of an imagination 
to picture what my fate would be. It was 
the arena and a wild thag or fierce tarag for 
me — unless the Mahars elected to take me 
to the pits. 

In that case my end would be no more 
certain, though infinitely more horrible and 
painful, for in the pits I should be sub¬ 
jected to cruel vivisection. From what I had 
once seen of their methods in the pits of 
Phutra I knew them to be the opposite of 
merciful, whereas in the arena I should be 
quickly despatched by some savage beast. 

Arrived at the underground city, I was 
taken immediately before a slimy Mahar. 
When the creature had received the report 
of the Sagoth its cold eyes glistened with 





FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY 93 


malice and hatred as they were turned bale- 
fully upon me. 

I knew then that my identity had been 
guessed. With a show of excitement that I 
had never before seen evinced by a member 
of the dominant race of Pellucidar, the 
Mahar hustled me away, heavily guarded, 
through the main avenue of the city to one of 
the principal buildings. 

Here we w r ere ushered into a great hall 
where presently many Mahars gathered. 

In utter silence they conversed, for they 
have no oral speech since they are without 
auditory nerves. Their method of communi¬ 
cation Perry has likened to the projection of 
a sixth sense into a fourth dimension, where 
it becomes cognizable to the sixth sense of 
their audience. 

Be that as it may, however, it was evident 
that I was the subject of discussion, and 
from the hateful looks bestowed upon me 
not a particularly pleasant subject. 

How long I waited .or their decision I do 
not know, but it must have been a very long 
time. Finally one of the Sagoths addressed 




94 


PELLUCIDAR 


me. He was acting as interpreter for his 
masters. 

“The Mahars will spare your life,” he 
said, “and release you on one condition.” 

“And what is that condition?” I asked, 
though I could guess its terms. 

“ That you return to them that which you 
stole from the pits of Phutra when you killed 
the four Mahars and escaped,” he replied. 

I had thought that that would be it. The 
great secret upon which depended the con¬ 
tinuance of the Mahar race was safely hid 
where only Dian and I knew. 

I ventured to imagine that they would 
have given me much more than my liberty 
to have it safely in their keeping again; but 
after that — what? 

Would they keep their promises? 

I doubted it. With the secret of artificial 
propagation once more in their hands their 
numbers would soon be made so to overrun 
the world of Pellucidar that there could be 
no hope for the eventual supremacy of the 
human race, the cause for which I so 
devoutly hoped, for which I had consecrated 




FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY 95 


my life, and for which I was now willing to 
give my life. 

Yes! In that moment as I stood before 
the heartless tribunal I felt that my life 
would be a very little thing to give could it 
save to the human race of Pellucidar the 
chance to come into its own by insuring the 
eventual extinction of the hated, powerful 
Mahars. 

“Come!” exclaimed the Sagoths. “The 
mighty Mahars await your reply.” 

“You may say to them,” I answered, “ that 
I shall not tell them where the great secret 
is hid.” 

When this had been translated to them 
there was a great beating of reptilian wings, 
gaping of sharp-fanged jaws, and hideous 
hissing. I thought that they were about to 
fall upon me on the spot, and so I laid my 
hands upon my revolvers; but at length they 
became more quiet and presently transmit¬ 
ted some command to my Sagoth guard, the 
chief of which laid a heavy hand upon my 
arm and pushed me roughly before him 
from the audience-chamber. 




96 


PELLUCIDAR 


They took me to the pits, where I lay 
carefully guarded. I was sure that I was to 
be taken to the vivisection laboratory, and it 
required all my courage to fortify myself 
against the terrors of so fearful a death. In 
Pellucidar, where there is no time, death- 
agonies may endure for eternities. 

Accordingly, I had to steel myself against 
an endless doom, which now stared me in the 
face! 




CHAPTER V 

SURPRISES 


B UT at last the allotted moment arrived 
— the moment for which I had been 
trying to prepare myself, for how long I 
could not even guess. A great Sagoth came 
and spoke some words of command to those 
who watched over me. I was jerked roughly 
to my feet and with little consideration hus¬ 
tled upward toward the higher levels. 

Out into the broad avenue they conducted 
me, where, amid huge throngs of Mahars, 
Sagoths, and heavily guarded slaves, I was 
led, or, rather, pushed and shoved roughly, 
along in the same direction that the mob 
moved. I had seen such a concourse of peo¬ 
ple once before in the buried city of Phutra; 
I guessed, and rightly, that we were bound 
for the great arena where slaves who are 
condemned to death meet their end. 

Into the vast amphitheater they took me, 
stationing me at the extreme end of the 
arena. The queen came, with her slimy, 
sickening retinue. The seats were filled. 

97 


98 


PELLUCIDAR 


The show was about to commence. 

Then, from a little doorway in the oppo¬ 
site end of the structure, a girl was led into 
the arena. She was at a considerable dis¬ 
tance from me. I could not see her features. 

I wondered what fate awaited this other 
poor victim and myself, and why they had 
chosen to have us die together. My own 
fate, or rather, my thought of it, was sub¬ 
merged in the natural pity I felt for this lone 
girl, doomed to die horribly beneath the 
cold, cruel eyes of her awful captors. Of 
what crime could she be guilty that she must 
expiate it in the dreaded arena? 

As I stood thus thinking, another door, 
this time at one of the long sides of the 
arena, was thrown open, and into the theater 
of death slunk a mighty tarag, the huge 
cave tiger of the Stone Age. At my sides 
were my revolvers. My captors had not 
taken them from me, because they did not 
yet realize their nature. Doubtless they 
thought them some strange manner of war- 
club, and as those who are condemned to the 
arena are permitted weapons of defense, they 




SURPRISES 


99 


let me keep them. 

The girl they had armed with a javelin. A 
brass pin would have been almost as effec¬ 
tive against the ferocious monster they had 
loosed upon her. 

The tarag stood for a moment looking 
about him — first up at the vast audience 
and then about the arena. He did not seem 
to see me at all, but his eyes fell presently 
upon the girl. A hideous roar broke from 
his titanic lungs — a roar which ended in a 
long-drawn scream that is more human than 
the death-cry of a tortured woman — more 
human but more awesome. I could scarce 
restrain a shudder. 

Slowly the beast turned and moved toward 
the girl. Then it was that I came to myself 
' and to a realization of my duty. Quickly 
and as noiselessly as possible I ran down the 
arena in pursuit of the grim creature. As I 
ran I drew one of my pitifully futile weap¬ 
ons. Ah! Could I but have had my lost 
express-gun in my hands at that moment! 
A single well-placed shot would have crum¬ 
pled even this great monster. The best T 






100 


PELLUCIDAR 


could hope to accomplish was to divert the 
thing from the girl to myself and then to 
place as many bullets as possible in it before 
it reached and mauled me into insensibility 
and death. 

There is a certain unwritten law of the 
arena that vouchsafes freedom and immu¬ 
nity to the victor, be he beast or human 
being—both of whom, by the way, are all 
the same to the Mahar. That is, they were 
accustomed to look upon man as a lower 
animal before Perry and I broke through the 
Pellucidarian crust, but I imagine that they 
were beginning to alter their views a trifle 
and to realize that in the gilak — their word 
for human being — they had a highly organ¬ 
ized, reasoning being to contend with. 

Be that as it may, the chances were that 
the tarag alone would profit by the law of 
the arena. A few more of his long strides, 
a prodigious leap, and he would be upon the 
girl. I raised a revolver and fired. The bul¬ 
let struck him in the left hind leg. It 
couldn’t have damaged him much; but the 
report of the shot brought him around, fac- 





SURPRISES 


101 


ing me. 

I think the snarling visage of a huge, 
enraged, saber-toothed tiger is one of the 
most terrible sights in the world. Especially 
if he be snarling at you and there be nothing 
between the two of you but bare sand. 

Even as he faced me a little cry from the 
girl carried my eyes beyond the brute to her 
face. Hers was fastened upon me with an 
expression of incredulity that baffles descrip¬ 
tion. There was both hope and horror in 
them, too. 

“Dian!” I cried. “My Heavens, Dian!” 

I saw her lips form the name David, as 
with raised javelin she rushed forward upon 
the tarag. She was a tigress then — a 
primitive savage fen'ale defending her loved 
one. Before she could reach the beast with 
her puny weapon, I fired again at the point 
where the tarag’s leek met his left shoulder. 
If I could get a bullet through there it 
might reach his heart. The bullet didn’t 
reach his heart, but it stopped him for an 
instant. 

It was then that a strange thing happened. 




102 


PELLUCIDAR 


I heard a great hissing from the stands occu¬ 
pied by the Mahars, and as I glanced toward 
them I saw three mighty thipdars — the 
winged dragons that guard the queen, or, as 
Perry calls them, pterodactyls — rise swiftly 
from their rocks and dart lightning-like, 
toward the center of the arena. They are 
huge, powerful reptiles. One of them, with 
the advantage which his wings might give 
him, would easily be a match for a cave bear 
or a tarag. 

These three, to my consternation, 
swooped down upon the tarag as he was 
gathering himself for a final charge upon 
me. They buried their talons in his back 
and lifted him bodily from the arena as if he 
had been a chicken in the clutches of a hawk. 

What could it mean? 

I was baffled for an explanation; but with 
the tarag gone I lost no time in hastening to 
Dian’s side. With a little cry of delight she 
threw herself into my arms. So lost were 
we in the ecstasy of reunion that neither of 
us —to this day — can tell what became of 
the tarag. 




SURPRISES 


The first thing we were aware of was 
presence of a body of Sagoths about us. 
Gruffly they commanded us to follow them. 
They led us from the arena and back through 
the streets of Phutra to the audience cham¬ 
ber in which I had been tried and sentenced. 
Here we found ourselves facing the same 
cold, cruel tribunal. 

Again a Sagoth acted as interpreter. He 
explained that our lives had been spared 
because at the last moment Tu-al-sa had 
returned to Phutra, and seeing me in the 
arena had prevailed upon the queen to spare 
my life. 

“ Who is Tu-al-sa?” I asked. 

“ A Mahar whose last male ancestor was — 
ages ago — the last of the male rulers among 
the Mahars,” he replied. 

“Why should she wish to have my life 
spared?” 

He shrugged his shoulders and then 
repeated my question to the Mahar spokes¬ 
man. When the latter had explained in the 
strange sign-language that passes for speech 
between the Mahars and their fighting men 






PELLUCID AR 


urned again to me: 
g time you had Tu-al-sa in your 
explained. “You might easily 
have killed her or abandoned her in a strange 
world — but you did neither. You did not 
harm her, and you brought her back with 
you to Pellucidar and set her free to return 
to Phutra. This is your reward.” 

Now I understood. The Mahar who had 
been my involuntary companion upon my 
return to the outer world was Tu-al-sa. This 
was the first time that I had learned the 
lady's name. I thanked fate that I had not 
left her upon the sands of the Sahara — or 
put a bullet in her, as I had been tempted to 
do. I was surprised to discover that grati¬ 
tude was a characteristic of the dominant 
race of Pellucidar. I could never think of 
them as aught but cold-blooded, brainless 
reptiles,' though Perry had devoted much 
time in explaining to me that owing to a 
strange freak of evolution among all the 
genera of the inner world, this spec ies of the 
reptilia had advanced to a position quite 
analogous to that which man holds upon the 






SURPRISES 


105 


outer crust. 

He had often told me that there was every 
reason to believe from their writings, which 
he had learned to read while vce were incar¬ 
cerated in Phutra, that they were a just race, 
and that in certain branches of science and 
arts they were quite well advanced, espe¬ 
cially in genetics and metaphysics, engineer¬ 
ing and architecture. 

While it had always been difficult for me 
to look upon these things as other than 
slimy, winged crocodiles — which, by the 
way, they do not at all resemble — I was 
now forced to a realization of the fact that I 
was in the hands of enlightened creatures — 
for justice and gratitude are certain hall¬ 
marks of rationality and culture. 

But what they purposed for us further 
was of most imminent interest to me. They 
might save us from the tarag and yet not 
free us. They looked upon us yet, to some 
extent, I knew, as creatures of a lower order, 
and so as we are unable to place ourselves in 
the position of the brutes we enslave — 
thinking that they are hap ier in bondage 






106 


PELLUCIDAR 


than in the free fulfilment of the purposes for 
which nature intended them — the Mahars, 
too, might consider our welfare better con¬ 
served in captivity than among the dangers 
of the savage freedom we craved. Natu¬ 
rally, I was next impelled to inquire their 
further intent. 

To my question, put through the Sagoth 
interpreter, I received the reply that having 
spared my life they considered that Tu-al- 
sa’s debt of gratitude was canceled. They 
still had against me, however, the crime of 
which I had been guilty — the unforgivable 
crime of stealing the great secret. They, 
therefore, intended holding Dian and me 
prisoners until the manuscript was returned 
to them. 

They would, they said, send an escort of 
Sagoths with me to fetch the precious docu¬ 
ment from its hiding-place, keeping Dian at 
Phutra as a hostage and releasing us both 
the moment that the document was safely 
restored to their queen. 

There was no doubt but that they had the 
upper hand. However, there was so much 




SURPRISES 


107 


more at stake than the liberty or even the 
lives of Dian and myself, that I did not deem 
it expedient to accept their offer without 
giving the matter careful thought. 

Without the great secret this maleless 
race must eventually become extinct. For 
ages they had fertilized their eggs by an 
artificial process, the secret of which lay hid¬ 
den in the little cave of a far-off valley where 
Dian and I had spent our honeymoon. I 
was none too sure that I could find the valley 
again, nor that I cared to. So long as the 
powerful reptilian race of Pellucidar con¬ 
tinued to propagate, just so long would the 
position of man within the inner world be 
jeopardized. There could not be two domi¬ 
nant races. 

I said as much to Dian. 

“ You used to tell me,” she replied, “of the 
wonderful things you could accomplish with 
the inventions of your own world. Now 
you have returned with all that is necessary 
to place this great power in the hands of the 
men of Pellucidar. 

“You told me of great engines of destruc- 




103 


PELLUCID AR 


tion which would cast a bursting ball of 
metal among our enemies, killing hundreds 
of them at one time. 

“You told me of mighty fortresses of 
stone which ^thousand men armed with big 
and little engines such as these could hold 
forever against a million Sagoths. 

“You told me of great canoes which 
moved across the water without paddles, and 
which spat death from holes in their sides. 

“All these may now belong to the men 
of Pellucidar. Why should we fear the 
Mahars? 

“Let them breed! Let their numbers 
increase by thousands. They will be help- 
loss before the power of the Emperor of 
Pellucidar. 

“But if you remain a prisoner in Phutra, 
what may we accomplish? 

“What could the men of Pellucidar do 
without you to lead them ? 

“They would fight among themselves, and 
while they fought the Mahars would fall 
upon them, and even though the Mahar race 
should die out, of what value would the 






vthout the Kn w !edge, which you alone 
ay wield, to j u jde them toward the won- 
rfnl civi!i£'id on of which you have told me 
much t I long for its comforts and lux- 
ies as llever before longed for anything, 
David; the Mahars cannot harm us 
3 ’a are at liberty. Let them have their 
‘£t that you and I may return to our peo- 
and lead them to the conquest of all 
ducidar.” 

c was plain that Dian was ambitious, and 
it her ambition had not dulled her reason- 
;■ faculties. She was right. Nothing 
.ild be gained by remaining bottled up in 
atra for the rest of our lives. 

[t was true that Perry might do much 
th the contents of the prospector, or iron 
>le, in which 1 had brought down the 
plements of outer-world civilization; but 
rry was a man of peace. He could never 
Id the warring factions of the disrupted 
icvation. He could never win new tribes 
the empire. He would fid le around man- 
acturing gunpowder and t. ying to improve 



V 1 ' -.1- I 'i y.%1 nHriH* tiifr n ,--. 

----— 

110 PEi/J 

upon it until some or 
own invention. He 
never would get an 
ance-wheel — withou 
energies. 

Perry needed me a: 
were going to do any 
must be free to do it 
The outcome of it 
to the Mahars’ propo ; 
that Dian would be 
tected from every . 1 

absence. So I set 
Sagoths in search of i 
had stumbled upon b] 
might and might not 
We traveled direct 
ping at the camp whe 
I recovered my expre: 
very thankful. I four 
left it when I had be 
sleep by the Sagoths 
and slain my Mezop < 

On the way I added 

. . . 

an occupation which 







SURPRISES 


111 


Sagoths even a shadow of interest. I felt 
that the human race of Pellucidar had little 
to fear from these gorilla-men. They were 
fighters — that was all. We might even use 
them later ourselves in this same capacity. 
They had not sufficient brain power to con¬ 
stitute a menace to the advancement of the 
human race. 

As we neared the spot where I hoped to 
find the little valley I became more and more 
confident of success. Every landmark was 
familiar to me, and I was sure now that I 
knew the exact location of the cave. 

It was at about this time that I sighted a 
number of the half-naked warriors of the 
human race of Pellucidar. They were 
marching across our front. At sight of us 
they halted; that there would be a fight I 
could not doubt. These Sagoths would 
never permit an opportunity for the capture 
of slaves for their Mahar masters tc escape 
them. 

I saw that the men were armed with bows 
and arrows, long lances and swords, so I 
guessed that they must have been members 





112 


PELLUCIDAR 


of the federation, for only my people had 
been thus equipped. Before Perry and I 
came the men of Pellucidar had only the 
crudest weapons wherewith to slay one 
another. 

The Sagoths, too, were evidently expect¬ 
ing battle. With savage shouts they rushed 
forward toward the human warriors. 

Then a strange thing happened. The 

leader of the human beings stepped forward 

with upraised hands. The Sagoths ceased 

their war-cries and advanced slowlv to meet 

* 

him. There was a long parley during which 
I could see that I was often the subject of 
their discourse. The Sagoths’ leader pointed 
in the direction in which I had told him the 
valley lay. Evidently he was explaining the 
nature of our expedition to the leader of the 
warriors. It was all a puzzle to me. 

What human being could be upon such 
excellent terms with the gorilla-men? 

I couldn't imagine. I tried to get a good 
look at the fellow, but the Sagoths had left 
me in the rear with a guard when they had 
advanced to battle, and the distance was too 




SURPRISES 


113 


great for me to recognize the features of any 
of the human beings. 

Finally the parley was concluded and the 
men continued on their way w'hile the 
Sagoths returned to where I stood with my 
guard. It was time for eating, so we 
stopped where we were and made our meal. 
The Sagoths didn’t tell me who it was they 
had met, and I did not ask, though I must 
confess that I was quite curious. 

They permitted me to sleep at this halt. 
Afterward we took up the last leg of our 
journey. 1 found the valley without diffi¬ 
culty and led my guard directly to the 
cave. At its mouth the Sagoths halted and 
I entered alone. 

I noticed as I felt about the floor in the 
dim light that there was a pile of fresh- 
turned rubble there. Presently my hands 
came to the spot where the great secret had 
been burled. There was a cavity where I 
had carefully smoothed the earth over the 
hiding-place of the document — the manu¬ 
script was gone! 

Frantically I searched the whole interior 





PELLUCIDAR 


:ave several times over, but without 
other result than a complete confirmation of 
my worst fears. Someone had been here 
ahead of me and stolen the great secret. 

The one thing within Pellucidar which 
might free Dian and me was gone, nor was 
it likely that I should ever learn its where¬ 
abouts. If a Mahar had found it, which was 
quite improbable, the chances were that the 
dominant race would never divulge the fact 
that they had recovered the precious docu¬ 
ment. If a cave man had happened upon it 
he would have no conception of its meaning 
or value, and as a consequence it would be 
lost or destroyed in short order. 

With bowed head and broken hopes I 

came out of the cave and told the Sagoth 

« 

chieftain what I had discovered. It didn’t 
mean much to the fellow, who doubtless had 
but little better idea of the contents of the 
document I had been sent to fetch to his mas¬ 
ters than would the cave man who in all 
probability had discovered it. 

The Sagoth knew only that I had failed in 
my mission, so he took advantage of the fact 




SURPRISES 


115 


to make the return journey to Phu-tra as dis¬ 
agreeable as possible. I did not rebel, 
though I had with me the means to destroy 
them all. I did not dare rebel because of the 
consequences to Dian. I intended demand¬ 
ing her release on the grounds that she was 
in no way guilty of the theft, and that my 
failure to recover the document had not les¬ 
sened the value of the good faith I had had 
in offering to do so. The Mahars might keep 
me in slavery if they chose, but Dian should 
be returned safely to her people. 

I was full of my scheme when ^e entered 
Phutra and I was conducted directly to the 
great audience-chamber. The Mahars lis¬ 
tened to the report of the Sagoth chieftain, 
and so difficult is it to judge their emotions 
from their almost expressionless counte¬ 
nances, that I was at a loss to know how ter¬ 
rible might be their wrath as they learned 
that their great secret, upon which rested 
the fate of their race, might now be irre¬ 
trievably lost. 

Presently I could see that she who pre¬ 
sided wa c :ommunicating something to the 





11(5 


PELLUCID AR 


Sagoth interpreter — doubtless something 
to be transmitted to me which might give 
me a forewarning of the fate which lay in 
store for me. One thing I had decided defi¬ 
nitely: If they would not free Dian I should 
turn loose upon Phutra with my little 
arsenal. Alone I might even win to freedom, 
and if I could learn where Dian was impris¬ 
oned it would be worth the attempt to free 
her. My thoughts were interrupted by the 
interpreter. 

“The mighty Makars,” he said, “are 
unable to reconcile your statement that the 
document is lost with } r our action in sending 
it to them by a special messenger. They 
wish to know if you have so soon forgotten 
the truth or if you are merely ignoring it.” 

“ I sent them no document,” I cried. “ Ask 
them what they mean.” 

“'They say,” he went on after conversing 
with the Mahar for a moment, “that just 
before you returned to Phutra, Hooja the 
Sly One came, bringing the great secret with 
him. He said that you had sent him ahead 
with it, asking him to deliver it and return to 




SURPRISES 


117 


Sari where you would await him, bringing 
the girl with him.” 

“Dian?” I gasped. "The Mahars have 
given over Dian into the keeping of Hooja.” 

“Surely,” he replied. “What of it? She 
is only a gilak,” as you or I would say, "She 
is only a cow.” 





CHAPTER VI 

A PENDENT WORLD 

T HE Mahars set me free as they had 
promised, but with strict injunctions 
never to approach Phutra or any other 
Mahar city. They also made it perfectly 
plain that they considered me a dangerous 
creature, and that having wiped the slate 
clean in so far as they were under obligations 
to me, they now considered me fair prey. 
Should I again fall into their hands, they 
intimated it would go ill with me. 

They would not tell me in which direction 
Hooja had set forth with Dian, so I departed 
from Phutra, filled with bitterness against 
the Mahars, and rage toward the Sly One 
who had once again robbed me of my great¬ 
est treasure. 

At first I was minded to go directly back 
to Anoroc; but upon second thought turned 
my face toward Sari, as I felt that some¬ 
where in that direction Hooja would travel, 
his own country lying in that general direc¬ 
tion. 


118 


A PENDENT WORLD 


119 


Of my journey to Sari it is only necessary 
to say that it was fraught with the usual 
excitement and adventure, incident to all 
travel across the face of savage Pellucidar. 
The dangers, however, were greatly reduced 
through the medium of my armament. I 
•often wondered how it had happened that I 
had ever survived the first ten years of my 
life within the inner world, when, naked and 
primitively armed, I had traversed great 
areas of her beast-ridden surface. 

With the aid of my map, which I had kept 
with great care during my march with the 
Sagoths in search of the great secret, I 
arrived at .Sari at last. As I topped the lofty 
plateau in whose rocky cliffs the principal 
tribe of Sarians find their cave-homes, a 
great hue and cry arose from those who first 
discovered me. 

Like wasps from their nests the hairy 
warriors poured from their caves. The bows 
with their poison-tipped arrows, which I had 
taught them to fashion and to use, were 
raised against me. Swords of hammered 
iron — another of my innovations — men- 







120 


PELLUCIDAR 


aced me, as with lusty shouts the horde 
charged down. 

It was a critical moment. Before I should 
be recognized I might be dead. It was evi¬ 
dent that all semblance of intertribal rela¬ 
tionship had ceased with my going, and that 

my people had reverted to their former sav- 

• 

age, suspicious hatred of all strangers. My 
garb must have puzzled them, too, for never 
before of course had they seen a man clothed 
in khaki and puttees. 

Leaning my express rifle against my body 
I raised both hands aloft. It was the peace- 
sign that is recognized everywhere upon the 
surface of Pellucidar. The charging war¬ 
riors paused and surveyed me. I looked for 
my friend Ghak, the Hairy One, king of 
Sari, and presently I saw him coming from 
a distance. Ah, but it was good to see his 
mighty, hairy form once more! A friend 
was Ghak — a friend well worth the having; 
and it had been some time since I had seen a 
friend. 

Shouldering his way through the throng 
of warriors, the mighty chieftain advanced 





A PENDENT WORLD 


121 


toward me. There was an expression of 
puzzlement upon his fine features. He 
crossed the space between the warriors and 
myself, halting before me. 

I did not speak. I did not even smile. I 
wanted to see if Ghak, my principal lieuten¬ 
ant, would recognize me. For some time he 
stood there looking me over carefully. His 
eyes took in my large pith helmet, my khaki 
jacket, and bandoleers of cartridges, the two 
revolvers swinging at my hips, the large 
rifle resting against my body. Still I stood 
with my hands above my head. He examined 
my puttees and my strong tan shoes — a lit¬ 
tle the worse for wear now. Then he glanced 
up once more to my face. As his gaze rested 
there quite steadily for some moments I saw 
recognition tinged with awe creep across his 
countenance. 

Presently without a word he took one of 
my hands in his and dropping to one knee 
raised my fingers to his lips. Perry had 
taught them this trick, nor ever did the most 
polished courtier of all the grand courts of 
Europe perform the little act of homage 





122 


PELLUCIDAR 


with greater grace and dignity. 

Quickly I raised Ghak to his feet, clasping 
both his hands in mine. I think there must 
have been tears in my eyes then — I know I 
felt too full for words. The king of Sari 
turned toward his warriors. 

“Our emperor has come back,” he 
announced. “Come hither and-” 

But he got no further, for the shouts that 
broke from those savage throats would have 
drowned the voice of heaven itself. I had 
never guessed how much they thought of 
me. As they clustered around, almost fight¬ 
ing for the chance to kiss my hand, I saw 
again the vision of empire which I had 
thought faded forever. 

With such as these I could conquer a 
world. With such as these I would conquer 
one! If the Sarians had remained loyal, so 
too would the Amozites be loyal still, and the 
Kalians, and the Suvians, and all the great 
tribes who had formed the federation that 
was to emancipate the human race of Pellu- 
cidar. 

Perry was safe with the Mezops; I was 






safe with the Sarians; now if Dian were but 
safe with me the future would look bright 
indeed. 

It did not take long to outline to Ghak all 
that had befallen me since I had departed 
from Pellucidar, and to get down to the busi¬ 
ness of finding Dian, which to me at that 
moment was of even greater importance 
than the very empire itself. 

When I told him that Hooja had stolen 
her, he stamped his foot in rage. 

“ It is always the Sly One! ” he cried. “ It 
was Hooia who caused the first trouble 
between you and the Beautiful One. 

“ It was Hooja who betrayed our trust, and 
all but caused our recapture by the Sagoths 
that time we escaped from Phutra. 

“It was Hooja who tricked you and sub¬ 
stituted a Mahar for Dian when you started 
upon your return journey to your own 
world. 

“ It was Hooja who schemed and lied until 
he had turned the kingdoms one against 
another and destroyed the federation, 

“ When we had him in our power we were 


124 


PELLUCIDAR 


foolish to let him live. Next time-” 

Ghak did not need to finish his sentence. 

“He has become a very powerful enemy 
now,” I replied. “That he is allied in some 
way with the Mahars is evidenced by the 
familiarity of his relations with the Sagoths 
who were accompanying me in search of the 
great secret, for it must have been Hooja 
whom I saw conversing with them just 
before we reached the valley. Doubtless 
they told him of our quest and he hastened 
on ahead of us, discovered the cave and stole 
the document. Well does he deserve his 
appellation of the .Sly One.” 

With Ghak and his head men I held a 
number of consultations. The upshot of 
them was a decision to combine our search 
for Dian with an attempt to rebuild the 
crumbled federation. To this end twenty 
warriors were despatched in pairs to ten of 
the leading kingdoms, with instructions to 
make every effort to discover the where¬ 
abouts of Hooja and Dian, while prosecuting 

■ 

their missions to the chieftains to whom they 
were sent. 






A PENDENT WORLD 


125 


Ghak was to remain at home to receive the 
various delegations which we invited to 
come to Sari on the business of the federa¬ 
tion. Four hundred warriors were started 
for Anoroc to fetch Perry and the contents 
of the prospector, to the capitol of the 
empire, which was also the principal settle¬ 
ments of the Sarians. 

At first it was intended that I remain at 
Sari, that I might be in readiness to hasten 
forth at the first report of the discovery of 
Dian; but I found the inaction in the face of 
my deep solicitude for the welfare of my 
mate so galling that scarce had the several 
units departed upon their missions before I, 
too, chafed to be actively engaged upon the 
search. 

It was after my second sleep, subsequent 
to the departure of the warriors, as I recall, 
that I at last went to Ghak with the admis¬ 
sion that I could no longer support the intol¬ 
erable longing to be personally upon the 
trail of my lost love. 

Ghak tried to dissuade me, though I could 
tell that his heart was with me in my wish to 





PELLUCIDAR 


be away and really doing something. It was 
while we were arguing upon the subject that 
a stranger, with hands above his head, 
entered the village. He was immediately 
surrounded by warriors and conducted to 
Ghak’s presence. 

The fellow was a typical cave man — 
squat, muscular, and hairy, and of a type I 
had not seen before. His features, like those 
of all the primeval men of Pellucidar, were 
regular and fine. His weapons consisted of a 
stone ax and knife and a heavy knobbed 
bludgeon of wood. His skin was very white. 

'Who are you?” asked Ghak. “And 
whence come you?” 

“ I am Ivolk, son of Goork, who is chief of 
the Thurians,” replied the stranger. “ From 
Thuria I have come in search of the land of 
Amoz, where dwells Dacor, the Strong One, 
who stole my sister, Canda, the Graceful 
One, to be his mate. 

“ We of Thuria have heard of a great 
chieftain who has bound together many 
tribes, and rny father has sent me to Dacor 
to learn if there be truth in these stories, and 





127 


A PENDENT WORLD 

if so to offer the services of Thuria to him 
whom we have heard called emperor.” 

“The stories are true,” replied Ghak, “and 
here is the emperor of whom you have heard. 
You need travel no farther.” 

Koik was delighted. He told us much 
of the wonderful resources of Thuria, the 
Land of Awful Shadow, and of his long jour¬ 
ney in search of Amoz. 

“And why/* I asked, “does Goork, your 
father, desire to join his kingdom to the 
empire?” 

“There are two reasons,” replied the 
young man. “Forever have the Mahars, 
who dwell beyond the Sidi Plains which lie 
at the farther rim of the Land of Awful 
Shadow, taken heavy toll of our people, 
whom they either force into life-long slavery 
or fatten for their feasts. We have heard 
that the great emperor makes successful war 
upon the Mahars, against whom we should 
be glad to fight. 

“ Recently has another reason come. 
L T pon a great island which lies in the Sojar 
Az, but a short distance from our shores, a 






128 


PELLUCIDAR 


wicked man has collected a great band of 
outcast warriors of all tribes. Even are 
there many Sagoths among them, sent by 
the Mahars to aid the Wicked One. 

"This band makes raids upon our vil¬ 
lages, and it is constantly growing in size 
and strength, for the Mahars give liberty to 
any of their male prisoners who will promise 
to fight with this band against the enemies 
of the Mahars. It is the purpose of the 
Mahars thus to raise a force of our own kind 
to combat the growth and menace of the 
new empire of which I have come to seek 
information. All this we learned from one 
of our own warriors who had pretended to 
sympathize with this band and had then 
escaped at the first opportunity.” 

"Who could this man be/’ I asked Ghak, 
" who leads so vile a movement against his 
own kind?” 

"His name is Hooja,” spoke up Kolk, 
answering my question. 

Ghak and I looked at each other. Relief 
was written upon his countenance and I 
know that it was beating strongly in my 




A PENDENT WORLD 


129 


heart. At last we had discovered a tangible 
clue to the whereabouts of Hooja — and with 
the clue a guide! 

But when I broached the subject to Kolk 
he demurred. He had come a long way, he 
explained, to see his sister and to confer .with 
Dacor. Moreover, he had instructions from 
his father which he could not ignore lightly. 
But even so he would return with me and 
show me the way to the island of the Thu- 
rian shore if by doing so we might accom¬ 
plish anything. 

“But we cannot/’ he urged. “Hooja is 
powerful. He has thousands of warriors. 
He has only to call upon his Mahar allies to 
receive a countless horde of Sagoths to do 
his bidding against his human enemies. 

“ Let us wait until you may gather an 
equal horde from the kingdoms of your 
empire. Then we may march against Hooja 
with some show of success. 

“ But first must you lure him to the main¬ 
land, for who among you knows how to con¬ 
struct the strange things that carry Hooja 
and his band back and forth across the 





PELLUCID AR 


130 

water ? 

“We are not island people. We do not go 
upon the water. We know nothing of such 
things.” 

I couldn't persuade him to do more than 
direct me upon the way. I showed him my 
map, which now included a great area of 
country extending from Anoroc upon the 
east to Sari upon the west, and from the 
river south of the Mountains of the Clouds 
north to Amoz. As soon as I had explained 
it to him he drew a line with his linger, 
showing a sea-coast far to the west and 
south of Sari, and a great circle which he 
said marked the extent of the Land of Awful 
Shadow in which lay Thuria. 

The shadow extended southeast of the 
coast out into the sea half-way to a large 
island, which he said was the seat of Hooja’s 
traitorous government. The island itself lay 
in the light of the noonday sun. Northwest 
of the coast and embracing a part of Thuria 
lay the Lidi Plains, upon the northwestern 
verge of which was situated the Mahar city 
which took such heavy toll of the Thurians. 




A PENDENT WORLD 


Thus were the unhappy people now 
between two fires, with Hooja upon one side 
and the Mahars upon the other. I did not 
wonder that they sent out an appeal for 
succor. 

Though Ghak and Kolk both attempted to 
dissuade me, I was determined to set out at 
once, nor did I delay longer than to make a 
copy of my map to be given to Perry that he 
might add to his that which I had set down 
since we parted. I left a letter for him as 
well, in which among other things I 
advanced the theory that the Sojar Az, or 
Great Sea, which Kolk mentioned as stretch¬ 
ing eastward from Thurin, might indeed be 
the same mighty ocea_, as that which, 
swinging around the southern end of a con¬ 
tinent ran northward along the shore oppo¬ 
site Phutra, mingling *ts waters with the 
huge gulf upon which ’ay Sari, Amoz, and 
Greenwich. 

Against this possibility I urged him to 
hasten the building of a fleet of small sailing- 
vessels, which we might utilize should T find 
it impossible to entice Hooja's horde to the 





132 


PELLUCID AR 


mainland. 

I told Ghak what I had written, and sug- 

« 

gested that as soon as he could he, should 
make new treaties with the various king¬ 
doms of the empire, collect an army and 
march toward Thuria — this of course 
against the possibility of my detention 
through some cause or other. 

Kolk gave me a sign to his father — a lidi , 
or beast of burden, crudely scratched upon a 
bit of bone, and beneath the lidi a man and 
a flower; all very rudely done perhaps, but 
none the less effective as I well knew from 
my long years among the primitive men of 
Pellucidar. 

The lidi is the tribal beast of the Thurians; 
the man and the flower in the combination in 
which they appeared bore a double signifi¬ 
cance, as they constituted not only a mes¬ 
sage to the effect that the bearer came in 
peace, but were also Kolk’s signature. 

And so, armed with my credentials and 
my small arsenal, I set out alone upon my 
quest for the dearest girl in this world or 
yours. 




A PENDENT WORLD 


133 


Kolk gave me explicit directions, though 
with my map I do not believe that I could 
have gone wrong. As a matter of fact I did 
not need the map at all, since the principal 
landmark of the first half of my journey, a 
gigantic mountain-peak, was plainly visible 
from Sari, though a good hundred miles 
away. 

At the southern base of this mountain a 
river rose and ran in a westerly direction, 
finally turning south and emptying into the 
Sojar Az some forty miles northeast of 
Thuria. All that I had to do was follow this 
river to the sea and then follow the coast to 
Thuria. 

Two hundred and forty miles of wild 
mountain and primeval jungle, of untracked 
plain, of nameless rivers, of deadly swamps 
and savage forests lay ahead of me, yet never 
had I been more eager for an adventure than 
now, for never had more depended upon 
haste and success. 

I do not know how long a time that jour¬ 
ney required, and only half did I appreciate 
the varied wonders that each new march 




134 


PELLUCIDAR 


unfolded before me, for my mind and heart 
were filled with but a single image — that of 
a perfect girl whose great, dark eyes looked 
bravely forth from a frame of raven hair. 

It was not until I had passed the high peak 
and found the river that my eyes first dis¬ 
covered the pendent world, the tiny satellite 
which hangs low over the surface of Pellu- 
cidar casting its perpetual shadow always 
upon the same spot — the area that is known 
here as the Land of Awful Shadow, in which 
dwells the tribe of Thuria. 

From the distance and the elevation of 
the highlands where I stood the Pellucida- 
rian noonday moon showed half in sunshine 
and half in shadow, while directly beneath it 
was plainly visible the round dark spot upon 
the surface of Pellucidar where the sun has 
never shone. From where I stood the moon 
appeared to hang so low above the ground 
as almost to touch it; but later I was to learn 
that it floats a mile above the surface — 
which seems indeed quite close for a moon. 

Following the river downward I soon lost 
sight of the tiny planet as f entered the 





A PENDENT WORLD 


.»» • 


mazes of a lofty forest. Nor dicj 
another glimpse of it for some time —sc* 
eral marches at least. However, when the 
river led me to the sea, or rather just before 
it reached the sea, of a sudden the sky 
became overcast and the size and luxuriance 
of the vegetation diminished as by magic — 
as if an omnipotent hand had drawn a line 
upon the earth, and said: 

“Upon this side shall the trees and the 
shrubs, the grasses and the flowers, riot in 
profusion of rich colors, gigantic size and 
bewildering abundance; and upon that side 
shall they be dwarfed and pale and scant/’ 

Instantly I looked above, for clouds are so 
uncommon in the skies of Pellucidar — they 
are practically unknown except above the 
mightiest mountain ranges — that it had 
given me something of a start to discover the 
sun obliterated. But I was not long in com¬ 
ing to a realization of the cause of the 
shadow. 

Above me hung another world. I could 
see its mountains and valleys, oceans, lakes, 
and rivers, its oread, grassy plains and dense 





PELLUCIDAR 


V>6 


But too great was the distance and 

„ the shadow of its under side for me 
to distinguish any movement as of animal 
life. 

Instantly a great curiosity was awakened 
within me. The questions which the sight 
of this planet, so tantalizingly close, raised 
in my mind were numerous and unanswer¬ 
able. 

Was it inhabited? 

If so, by what manner and form of crea¬ 
ture? 

Were its people as relatively diminutive as 
their little world, or were they as dispro¬ 
portionately huge as the lesser attraction of 
gravity upon the surface of their globe 
would permit of their being? 

As I watched it, I saw that it was revolv¬ 
ing upon an axis that lay parallel to the sur¬ 
face of Pellucidar, so that during each revo¬ 
lution its entire surface was once exposed 
to the world below and once bathed in the 
heat of the great sun above. The little 
world had that which Pellucidar could not 
have — a day and night, and — greatest of 






A PENDENT WORLD 


137 


boons to one outer-earthly born — time. 

Here I saw a chance to give time to Pei- 
lucidar, using this mighty clock, revolving 
perpetually in the heavens, to record the 
passage of the hours for the earth below. 4 . 
Here should be located an observatory, from 
which might be flashed by wireless to every 
corner of the empire the correct time once 
each day. That this time would be easily 
measured I had no doubt, since so plain were 
the landmarks upon the under surface of the 
satellite that it would be but necessary to 
erect a simple instrument and mark the 
instant of passage of a given landmark 
across the instrument. 

But then was not the time for dreaming; I 
must devote my mind to the purpose of my 
journey. So I hastened onward beneath the 
great shadow. As I advanced I could not 
but note the changing nature of the vegeta¬ 
tion and the paling of its hues. 

The river led me a short distance within 
the shadow before it emptied into the Sojar 
Az. Then I continued in a southerly direc¬ 
tion along the coast toward the village of 






PELLUCIDAR 


where I hoped to find Goork and 
} him my credentials. 

1 j: progressed no great distance from 
the mouth of the river when I discerned, 
lying some distance at sea, a great island. 
This I assumed to be the stronghold of 
Hooja, nor did I doubt that upon it even now 
was Dian. 

The way was most difficult, since shortly 
after leaving the river I encountered lofty 
cliffs split by numerous long, narrow fiords, 
each of which necessitated a considerable 
detour. As the crow flies it is about twenty 
miles from the mouth of the river to Thuria, 
but before I had covered half of it I was 
fagged. There w r as no familiar fruit or 
vegetable growing upon the rocky soil of the 
cliff-tops, and I would have fared ill for food 
had not a hare broken cover almost beneath 
my nose. 

I carried bow and arrows to conserve my 
ammunition-supply, but so quick was the lit¬ 
tle animal that I had no time to draw and fir 
a shaft. In fact my dinner was a hundred 
yards away and going like the proverbial bat 




A PENDENT WORLD 


139’ 


when I dropped my six-shooter on it. It was 
a pretty shot and when coupled with a good 
dinner made me quite contented with 
myself. 

After eating I lay down and slept. When 
I awoke I was scarcely so self-satisfied, for 
I had not more than opened my eyes before I 
became aware of the presence, barely a hun¬ 
dred yards from me, of a pack of some 
twenty huge wolf-dogs — the things which 
Perry insisted upon calling hyaenodons — 
and almost simultaneously I discovered that 
while I slept my revolvers, rifle, bow, arrows, 
and knife had been stolen from me. 

And the wolf-dog pack was preparing to 
rush me. 





CHAPTER VII 

FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT 

I PIAVE never been much of a runner; I 
hate running. But if ever a sprinter broke 
into smithereens all world’s records it was I 
that day when I fled before those hideous 
beasts along the narrow spit of rocky cliff 
between two narrow fiords toward the Sojar 
Az. Just as I reached the verge of the cliff 
the foremost of the brutes was upon me. He 
leaped and closed his massive jaws upon my 
shoulder. 

The momentum of his flying body, added 
to that of my own, carried the two of us over 
the cliff. It was a hideous fall. The cliff 
was almost perpendicular. At its foot broke 
the sea against a solid wall of rock. 

We struck the cliff-face once in our 
descent and then plunged into the salt sea. 
With the impact with the water the 
hyaenodon released his hold upon my shoul¬ 
der. 

As I came sputtering to the surface I 
looked about for some tiny foot or hand-hold 

140 


FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT 


141 


where I might cling for a moment of rest 
and recuperation. The cliff itself offered me 
nothing, so I swam toward the mouth of the 
fiord. 

At the far end I could see that erosion 
from above had washed down sufficient rub¬ 
ble to form a narrow ribbon of beach. 
Toward this I swam with all my strength. 
Not once did I look behind me, since every 
unnecessary movement in swimming de¬ 
tracts so much from one’s endurance and 
speed. Not until I had drawn myself safely 
out upon the beach did I turn my eyes back 
toward the sea for the hyaenodon. He was 
swimming slowly and apparently painfully 
toward the beach upon which I stood. 

I watched him for a long time, wondering 
why it was that such a doglike animal was 
not a better swimmer. As he neared me I 
realized that he was weakening rapidly. I 
had gathered a handful of stones to be ready 
for his assault when he landed, but in a 
moment I let them fall from my hands. It 
was evident that the brute either was no 
swimmer or else was severely injured, for by 




142 


PELLUCID AR 


how he was making practically no headway. 
Indeed, it was with quite apparent difficulty 
that he kept his nose above the surface of the 
sea. 

He was not more than fifty yards from 
shore when he went under. I watched the 
spot where he had disappeared, and in a 
moment I saw his head reappear. The look 
of dumb misery in his eyes struck a chord in 
my breast, for I love dogs. I forgot that he 
was a vicious, primordial wolf-thing — a 
man-eater, a scourge, and a terror. I saw 
only the sad eyes that looked like the eyes 
of Raja, my dead collie of the outer world. 

I did not stop to weigh and consider. In 
other words, I did not stop to think, which 
I believe must be the way of men who do 
things — in contradistinction to those who 
think much and do nothing. Instead, I 
leaped back into the water and swam out 
toward the drowning beast. At first he 
shovred his teeth at my approach, but just 
before I reached him he went under for the 
second time, so that I had to dive to get him. 

I grabbed him by the scruft of the neck, 





_ FROM PLIGHT TO PL IGHT 143 

and though he weighed as much *as a Shet¬ 
land pony, I managed to drag him to shore 
and well up upon the beach. Here I found 
that one of his forelegs was broken — the 
crash against the cliff-face must have done it. 

By this time all the fight was out of him, 
so that when I had gathered a few tiny 
branches from some of the stunted trees that 
grew in the crevices of the cliff, and returned 
to him he permitted me to set his broken leg 
and bind it in splints. I had to tear part of 
my shirt into bits to obtain a bandage, but at 
last the job was done. Then I sat stroking 
the savage head and talking to the beast in 
the man-dog talk with which you are famil¬ 
iar, if you ever owned and loved a dog. 

When he is well, I thought, he probably 
will turn upon me and attempt to devour 
me, and against that eventuality I gathered 
together a pile of rocks and set to work to 
fashion a stone-knife. We were bottled up 
at the head of that fiord as completely as if 
we had been behind prison bars. Before us 
spread the Sojar Az, and elsewhere about us 
rose unscalable cliffs. 






144 


PELLUCIDAR 


Fortunately a little rivulet trickled down 
the side of the rocky wall, giving us ample 
supply of fresh water — some of which I 
kept constantly beside the hyaenodon in a 
huge, bowl-shaped shell, of which there were 
countless numbers among the rubble of the 
beach. 

For food we subsisted upon shell-fish and 
an occasional bird that I succeeded in knock¬ 
ing over with a rock, for long practice as a 
pitcher on prep-school and varsity nines had 
made me an excellent shot with a hand- 
thrown missile. 

It was not long before the hyaenodon’s 
leg was sufficiently mended to permit him to 
rise and hobble about on three legs. I shall 
never forget with what intent interest I 
watched his first attempt. Close at my hand 
lay my pile of rocks. Slowly the beast came 
to his three good feet. He stretched himself, 
lowered his head, and lapped water from the 
drinking-shell at his side, turned and looked 
at me, and then hobbled off toward the cliffs. 

Thrice he traversed the entire extent of 
our prison, seeking, I imagine, a loop-hole 




FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT 


145 


for escape, but finding none he returned in 
my direction. Slowly he came quite close to 
me, sniffed at my shoes, my puttees, my 
hands, and then limped off a few feet and lay 
down again. 

Now that he was able to get around, I was 
a little uncertain as to the wisdom of my 
impulsive mercy. 

How could I sleep with that ferocious 
thing prowling about the narrow confines of 
our prison? 

Should I close my eyes it might be to open 
them again to the feel of those mighty jaws 
at my throat. To say the least, I was 
uncomfortable. 

I have had too much experience with 
dumb animals to bank very strongly on any 
sense of gratitude which may be attributed 
to them by inexperienced sentimentalists. 
I believe that some animals love their mas¬ 
ters, but I doubt very much if their affection 
is the outcome of gratitude — a characteris¬ 
tic that is so rare as to be only occasionally 
traceable in the seemingly unselfish acts of 
man himself. 




PELLUCIDAR 


m 

But finally I was forced to sleep. Tired 
nature would be put off no longer. I simply 
fell asleep, willy nilly, as I sat looking out to 
sea. I had been very uncomfortable since 
my ducking in the ocean, for though I could 
see the sunlight on the water half-way out 
toward the island and upon the island itself, 
no ray of it fell upon us. We were well 
within the Land of Awful Shadow. A perpet¬ 
ual half-warmth pervaded the atmosphere, 
but clothing was slow in drying, and so from 
loss of sleep and great physical discomfort, 
I at last gave way to nature’s demands and 
sank into profound slumber. 

When I awoke it was with a start, for a 

. t 

heavy body was upon me. My first thought 
was that the hvaenodon had at last attacked 
me, but as my eyes opened and I struggled 
to rise, I saw that a man was astride me and 
three others bending close above him. 

I am no weakling — and never have been. 
My experience in the hard life of the inner 
world has turned my thews to steel. Even 
such giants as Ghak the Hairy One have 
praised my strength; but to it is added 





FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT 


147 


another quality which they lack — science. 

The man upon me held me down awk¬ 
wardly, leaving me many openings — one of 
which I was not slow in taking advantage of, 
so that almost before the fellow knew that I 
was awake I was upon my feet with my arms 
over his shoulders and about his waist and 
had hurled him heavily over my head to the 
hard rubble of the beach, where he lay quite 
still. 

Tn the instant that I arose I had seen the 
hyaenodon lying asleep beside a boulder a 
few yards away. So nearly was he the color 
of the rock that he was scarcely discernible. 
Evidently the newcomers had not seen him. 

I had not more than freed myself from one 
of my antagonists before the other three 
were upon me. They did not work silently 
now, but charged me with savage cries — a 
mistake upon their part. The fact that they 
did not draw their weapons against me con¬ 
vinced me that they desired to take me alive; 
but I fought as desperately as if death 
loomed immediate and sure. 

The battle was short, for scarce had their 




148 


PELLUCIDAR 


first wild whoop reverberated through the 
rocky fiord, and they had closed upon me, 
than a hairy mass of demoniacal rage hurtled 
among us. 

It was the hyaenodon! 

In an instant he had pulled down one of 
the men, and with a single shake, terrier¬ 
like, had broken his neck. Then he was upon 
another. In their efforts to vanquish the 
wolf-dog the savages forgot all about me, 
thus giving me an instant in which to snatch 
a knife from the loin-string of him who had 
first fallen and account for another of them. 
Almost simultaneously the hyaendon pulled 
down the remaining enemy, crushing his 
skull with a single bite of those fearsome 
jaws. 

The battle was over — unless the beast 
considered me fair prey, too. I waited, 
ready for him with knife and bludgeon — 
also filched from a dead foeman; but he paid 
no attention to me, falling to work instead 
to devour one of the corpses. 

The beast had been handicapped but little 
by his splinted leg; but having eaten he lay 




FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT 


149 


down and commenced to gnaw at the band¬ 
age. I was sitting some little distance away 
devouring shellfish, of which, by the way, I 
was becoming exceedingly tired. 

Presently the hyaenodon arose and came 
toward me. I did not move. He stopped in 
front of me and deliberately raised his ban¬ 
daged leg and pawed my knee. His act was 
as intelligible as words — he wished the 
bandage removed. 

I took the great paw in one hand and with 
the other untied and unwound the bandage, 
removed the splints and felt of the injured 
member. As far as I could judge the bone 
was completely knit. The joint was stiff; 
when I bent it a little the brute winced — but 
he neither growled nor tried to pull away. 
Very slowly and gently I rubbed the joint 
and applied pressure to it for a few moments. 

Then I set it down upon the ground. The 
hyaenodon walked around me a few times, 
and then lay down at my side, his body 
touching mine. I laid my hand upon his 
head. He did not move. Slowly I scratched 
about his ears and neck and down beneath 




PELLUCID AR 


150 


the fierce jaws. The only sign he gave was 
to raise his chin a trifle that I might better 
caress him. 

That was enough! From that moment I 
have never again felt suspicion of Raja, as I 
immediately named him. Somehow all sense 
of loneliness vanished, too — I had a dog! I 
had never guessed precisely what it was that 
was lacking to life in Pellucidar, but now I 
knew that it was the total absence of domes¬ 
tic animals. 

Man here had not yet reached the point 
where he might take the time from slaughter 
and escaping slaughter to make friends with 
any of the brute creation. I must qualify 
this statement a trifle and sav that this was 

a/ 

true of those tribes with which I was most 
familiar. The Thurians do domesticate the 
colossal lidi, traversing the great Lidi Plains 
upon the backs of these grotesque and stu¬ 
pendous monsters, and possibly there may 
also be other, far-distant peoples within this 
great world, who have tamed others of the 
wild things of jungle, plain or mountain. 

The Thurians practice agriculture in a 




FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT 


151 


crude sort of way. It is my opinion that this 
is one of the earliest steps from savagery to 
civilization. The taming of wild beasts and 
their domestication follows. 

Perry argues that wild dogs were first 
domesticated for hunting purposes; but I do 
not agree with him. I believe that if their 
domestication were not purely the result of 
an accident, as, for example, my taming of 
the hyaenodon, it came about through the 
desire of tribes who had previously domes¬ 
ticated flocks and herds to have some strong, 
ferocious beast to guard their roaming prop¬ 
erty. However, I lean rather more strongly 
to the theory of accident. 

As I sat there upon the beach of the little 
fiord eating my unpalatable shell-fish, I com¬ 
menced to wonder how it had been that the 
four savages had been able to reach me, 
though I had been unable to escape from my 
natural prison. I glanced about in all direc¬ 
tions, searching for an explanation. At last 
my-eyes fell upon the bow of a small dugout 
protruding scarce a foot from behind a large 
boidder lying half in the water at the edge 







152 


PELLUCIDAR 


of the beach. 

At my discovery I leaped to my feet so 
suddenly that it brought Raja, growling and 
bristling, upon all fours in an instant. For 
the moment I had forgotten him. But his 
savage rumbling did not cause me any 
uneasiness. Fie glanced quickly about in all 
directions as if searching for the cause of my 
excitement. Then, as I walked rapidly 
down toward the dugout, he slunk silently 
after me. 

The dugout was similar in many respects 
to those which I had seen in use by the 
Mezops. In it were four paddles. I was 
much delighted, as it promptly offered me 
the escape I had been craving. 

I pushed it out into water that would float 
it, stepped in and called to Raja to enter. At 
first he did not seem to understand what I 
wished of him, but after I had paddled out a 
few yards he plunged through the surf and 
swam after me. When he had come along¬ 
side I grasped the scruff of his neck, and 
after a considerable struggle, in which I sev¬ 
eral times came near to overturning the 




FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT 


153 


canoe, I managed to drag him aboard, where 
he shook himself vigorously and squatted 
down before me. 

After emerging from the fiord, I paddled 
southward along the coast, where presently 
the lofty cliffs gave way to lower and more 
level country. It was here somewhere that 
I should come upon the principal village of 
the Thurians. When, after a time, I saw in 
the distance what I took to be huts in a 
clearing near the shore, I drew quickly into 
land, for though I had been furnished with 
credentials by Kollc, I was not sufficiently 
familiar with the tribal characteristics of 
these people to know whether I should 
receive a friendly welcome or not; and in 
case I should not, I wanted to be sure of hav¬ 
ing a canoe hidden safely away so that I 
might undertake the trip to the island, in 
any event — provided, of course, that I 
escaped the Thurians should they prove 
belligerent. 

At the point where I landed the shore was 
quite low. A forest of pale, scrubby ferns 
ran down almost to the beach. Here I 




154 


PELLUCIDAR 


dragged up the dugout, hiding it well within 
the vegetation, and with some loose rocks 
built a cairn upon the beach to mark my 
cache. Then I turned my steps toward the 
Thurian village. 

As I proceeded I began to speculate upon 
the possible actions of Raja when we should 
enter the presence of other men than myself. 
The brute was padding softly at my side, his 
sensitive nose constantly atwitch and his 
fierce eyes moving restlessly from side to 
side — nothing would ever take Raja 
unawares! 

The more I thought upon the matter the 
greater became my perturbation. I did not 
want Raja to attack any of the people upon 
whose friendship I so greatly depended, nor 
did I want him injured or slain by them. 

I wondered if Raja would stand for a 
leash. His head as he paced beside me was 
level with my hip. I laid my hand upon it 
caressingly. As I did so he turned and 
looked up into my face, his jaws parting and 
his red tongue lolling as you have seen your 
own dog’s beneath a love pat. 






FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT 


155 


"Just been waiting all your life to be 
tamed and loved, haven’t you, old man?" I 
asked. “ You’re nothing but a good old pup, 
and the man who put the hyaeno in your 
name ought to be sued for libel.” 

Raja bared his mighty fangs with 
upcurled, snarling lips and licked my hand. 

"You’re grinning, you old fraud, you!” I 
cried. “ If you’re not, I’ll eat you. I’ll bet a 
doughnut you’re nothing but some kid’s poor 
old Fido, masquerading around as a real, live 
man-eater.” 

Raja whined. And so we walked on 
together toward Thuria — I talking to the 
beast at my side, and he seeming to enjoy 
my company no less than I enjoyed his. If 
you don’t think it’s lonesome wandering all 
by yourself through savage, unknown Pel- 
lucidar, why, just try it, and you will not 
wonder that I was glad of the company of 
this first dog — this living replica of the 
fierce and now extinct hyaenodon of the 
outer crust that hunted in savage packs the 
great elk across the snows of southern 
France, in the days when the mastodon 






156 


PELLUCIDAR 


roamed at will over the broad continent of 
which the British Isles were then a part, and 
perchance left his footprints and his bones 
in the sands of Atlantis as well. 

Thus I dreamed as we moved on toward 
Thuria. My dreaming was rudely shattered 
by a savage growl from Raja. I looked 
down at him. He had stopped in his tracks 
as one turned to stone. A thin ridge of stiff 
hair bristled along the entire length of his 
spine. His yellow-green eyes were fastened 
upon the scrubby jungle at our right. 

I fastened my fingers in the bristles at his 
neck and turned my eyes in the direction 
that his pointed. At first I saw nothing. 
Then a slight movement of the bushes 
riveted my attention. I thought it must be 
some wild beast, and was glad of the primi¬ 
tive weapons I had taken from the bodies of 
the warriors who had attacked me. 

Presently I distinguished two eyes peer¬ 
ing at us from the vegetation. I took a step 
in their direction, and as I did so a youth 
arose and fled precipitately in the direction 
we had been going. Raja struggled to be 






FROM PLIGHT TQ PLI( 

after him, but I held tightly to 1 v neck, - 
act which he did not seem to r< , Vo 
turned on me with bared fangs. 

I determined that now was as guuu a, uAiic 
as any to discover just how deep was Raja’s 
affection for me. One of us must be master, 
and logically I was the one. He growled at 
me. I cuffed him sharply across the nose. 
He looked at me for a. moment in surprised 
bewilderment, and then he growled again. 
I made another feint at him, expecting that 
it would bring him at my throat; but instead 
he winced and crouched down. 

Raja was subdued! 

I stooped and patted him. Then I took a 
piece of the rope that constituted a part of 
my equipment and made a leash for him. 

Thus we resumed our journey toward 
Thuria. The youth who had seen us was 
evidently of the Thurians. That he had lost 
no time in racing homew r ard and spreading 
fUo ™^ rc ] 0 f my coming was evidenced when 
i come within sight of the clearing, 
village — the first real village, by the 
lat I had ever seen constructed by 






PELLUCIDAR 


It 

-•* - 

uuman Pellucidarians. There was a rude 
rectangle walled with logs and boulders, in 
which were a hundred or more thatched huts 
of similar construction. There was no gate. 
Ladders that could be removed by night led 
over the palisade. 

Before the village were assembled a great 
concourse of warriors. Inside I could see 
the heads of women and children peering 
over the top of the wall; and also, farther 
back, the long necks of lidi, topped by their 
tiny heads. Lidi, by the way, is both the 
singular and plural form of the noun that 
describes the huge beasts of burden of the 
Thurians. They are enormous quadrupeds, 
eighty or a hundred feet long, with very 
small heads perched at the top of very long, 
slender necks. Their heads are quite forty 
feet from the ground. Their gait is slow and 
deliberate, but so enormous are their strides 
that, as a matter of fact, they cover the 
ground quite rapidly. 

Perry has told me that they are almost 
identical with the fossilized remains of the 
diplodocus of the outer crust's Jurassic age. 





_ FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGH T 159 

I have to take his word for it — and I guess 
you will, unless you know more of such mat¬ 
ters than I. 

As we came in sight of the warriors the 
men set up a great jabbering. Their eyes 
were wide in astonishment — not only, I pre¬ 
sume, because of my strange garmenture, 
but as well from the fact that I came in com¬ 
pany with a jalok, which is the Pellucidarian 
name of the hyaenodon. 

Raja tugged at his leash, growling ana 
showing his long white fangs. He would 
have liked nothing better than to be at the 
throats of the whole aggregation; but I held 
him in with the leash, though it took all my 
strength to do it. My free hand I held above 
my head, palm out, in token of the peaceful¬ 
ness of my mission. 

In the foreground I saw the youth who 
had discovered us, and I could tell from the 
way he carried himself that he was quite 
overcome by his own importance. The war¬ 
riors about him were all fine looking fellows, 
though shorter and squatter than the 
Sarians or the Amozites. Their color, too, 





160 


PELLUCIDAR 


was a bit lighter, owing, no doubt, to the 
fact that much of their lives is spent within 
the shadow of the world that hangs forever 
above their country. 

A little in advance of the others was a 
bearded fellow tricked out in many orna¬ 
ments. I didn’t need to ask to know that he 
was the chieftain — doubtless Goork, father 
of IColk. Now to him I addressed myself. 

“I am David,” I said, “ Emperor of the 
Federated Kingdoms of Pellucidar. Doubt¬ 
less you have heard of me?” 

He nodded his head affirmatively. 

“I come from Sari,” I continued, “where 
I just met Kolk, the son of Goork. I bear a 
token from Kolk to his father, which will 
prove that I am a friend.” 

Again the warrior nodded. “ I am Goork,” 
he said. “ Where is the token?” 

“ Here,” I replied, and fished into the 
game-bag where I had placed it. 

Goork and his people waited in silence. 
My hand searched the inside of the bag. 

It was empty! 

The token had been stolen with my arms! 





CHAPTER VIII 

CAPTIVE 


W HEN Goork and his people saw that 
I had no token they commenced to 
taunt me. 

“You do not come from Kolk, but from 
the Sly One! ” they cried. “ He has sent you 
from the island to spy upon us. Go away, or 
we will set upon you and kill you/' 

I explained that all my belongings had 
been stolen from me, and that the robber 
must have taken the token, too; but they 
didn’t believe me. As proof that I was one 
of Hooja’s people, they pointed to my 
weapons, which they said were ornamented 
like those of the island clan. Further, they 
said that no good man went in company 
with a jalok — and that by this line of rea¬ 
soning I certainly was a bad man. 

I saw that they were not naturally a war¬ 
like tribe, for they preferred that I leave in 
peace rather than force them to attack me, 
whereas the Sarians would have killed a 
suspicious stranger first and inquired into his 

161 


162 


PELLUCIDAR 


purposes later. 

I think Raja sensed their antagonism, for 
he kept tugging at his leash and growling 
ominously. They were a bit in awe of him, 
and kept at a safe distance. It was evident 
that they could not comprehend wdiy it was 
that this savage brute did not turn upon me 
and rend me. 

I wasted a long time there trying to per¬ 
suade Goork to accept me at my own valua¬ 
tion, but he was too canny. The best he 
would do was to give us food, which he did, 
and direct me as to the safest portion of the 
island upon which to attempt a landing, 
though even as he told me I am sure that he 
thought my request for information but a 
blind to deceive him as to my true knowl¬ 
edge of the insular stronghold. 

At last I turned away from them — rather 
disheartened, for I had hoped to be able to 
enlist a considerable force of them in an 
attempt to rush Kooja's horde and rescue 
Dian. Back along the beach toward the hid¬ 
den canoe we made our way. 

By the time we came to the cairn I was 





CAPTIVE 


163 


dog-tired. Throwing myself upon the sand 
I soon slept, and with Raja stretched out 
beside me I felt a far greater security than 
I had enjoyed for a long time. 

I awoke much refreshed to find Raja's 
eyes glued upon me. The moment I opened 
mine he rose, stretched himself, and without 
a backward glance plunged into the jungle. 
For several minutes I could hear him crash¬ 
ing through the brush. Then all was silent. 

I wondered if he had left me to return to 
his fierce pack. A feeling of loneliness 
overwhelmed me. With a sigh I turned to 
the work of dragging the canoe down to the 
sea. As I entered the jungle where the dug- 
out lay a hare darted from beneath the boat's 
side, and a well-aimed cast of my javelin 
brought it down. I was hungry — I had not 
realized if before — so I sat upon the edge of 
the canoe and devoured my repast. The last 
remnants gone, I again busied myself with 
preparations for my expedition to the island. 

I did not know for certain that Dian was 
there; but I surmised as much. Nor could I 
guess what obstacles might confront me in 







PELLUCIDAR 


k7sJ 

which reminded me of pictures I had seen of 
landscapes in New Mexico. Altogether, the 
country was very much broken and very 
beautiful. From where I stood I counted 
no less than a dozen streams winding down 
from among the table-buttes and emptying 
into a pretty river which flowed away in a 
northeasterly direction toward the opposite 
end of the island. 

As I let my eyes roam over the scene I 
suddenly became aware of figures moving 
upon the flat top of a far-distant butte. 
Whether they were beast or human, though, 
I could not make out; but at least they were 
alive, so I determined to prosecute my search 
for Hooja’s stronghold in the general direc¬ 
tion of this butte. 

To descend to the valley required no great 
effort. As I swung along through the lush 
grass and the fragrant flowers, my cudgel 
swinging in my hand and my javelin looped 
across my shoulders with its aurochs-hide 
strap, I felt equal to any emergency, ready 
for any danger. 

I had covered quite a little distance, and I 




CAPTIVE 


167 


was passing through a strip of wood which 
lay at the foot of one of the hat-topped hills, 
when I became conscious of the sensation of 
being watched. My life within Pellucidar 
has rather quickened my senses of sight, 
hearing, and smell, and, too, certain primi¬ 
tive intuitive or instinctive qualities that 
seem blunted in civilized man. But, though 
I was positive that eyes were upon me, I 
could see no sign of any living thing within 
the wood ocher than the many, gay- 
plumaged birds and little monkeys which 
filled the trees with life, color, and action. 

To you it may seem that my conviction 
was the result of an overwrought imagina¬ 
tion, or to the actual reality of the prying 
eyes of the little monkeys or the curious ones 
of the birds; but there is a difference which 
I cannot explain between the sensation of 
casual observation and studied espionage. 
A sheep might gaze at you without transmit¬ 
ting a warning through your subjective 
mind, because you are in no danger from a 
sheep. But let a tiger gaze fixedly at you 
from ambush, and unless your primitive 




16 S 


PELLUCIDAR 


instincts are completely calloused you will 
presently commence to glance furtively about 
and be filled with vague, unreasoning terror. 

Thus was it with me then. I grasped my 
cudgel more firmly and unslung my javelin, 
carrying it in my left hand. I peered to left 
and right, but I saw nothing. Then, all 
quite suddenly, there fell about my neck and 
shoulders, around my arms and body, a 
number of pliant fiber ropes. 

In a jiffy I was trussed up as neatly as you 
might wish. One of the nooses dropped to 
my ankles and was jerked up with a sudden¬ 
ness that brought me to my face upon the 
ground. Then something heavy and hairy 
sprang upon my back. I fought to draw my 
knife, but hairy hands grasped my wrists 
and, dragging them behind my back, bound 
them securely. 

Next my feet were bound. Then I was 
turned over upon my back to look up into 
the faces of my captors. 

And what faces! Imagine if you can a 
cross between a sheep and a gorilla, and you 
will have some conception of the physiog- 




CAPTIVE 


169 


nomy of the creature that bent close above 
me, and of those of the half-dozen others 
that clustered about. There was the facial 
length and great eyes of the sheep, and the 
bull-neck and hideous fangs of the gorilla. 
The bodies and limbs were both man and 
gorilla-like. 

As they bent over me they conversed in a 
monosyllabic tongue that was perfectly 
intelligible to me. It was something of a 
simplified language that had no need for 
aught but nouns and verbs, but such words 
as it included were the same as those of the 
human beings of Pellucidar. It was ampli¬ 
fied by many gestures which filled in the 
speech-gaps. 

I asked them what they intended doing 
with me; but, like our own North American 
Indians when questioned by a white man, 
they pretended not to understand me. One 
of them swung me to his shoulder as lightly 
as if I had been a shoat. He was a huge 
creature, as were his fellows, standing fully 
seven feet upon his short legs and weighing 
. considerably more than a quarter of a ton. 




16S 


PELLUCIDAR 


instincts are completely calloused you will 
presently commence to glance furtively about 
and be filled with vague, unreasoning terror. 

Thus was it with me then. I grasped my 
cudgel more firmly and unslung my javelin, 
carrying it in my left hand. I peered to left 
and right, but I saw nothing. Then, all 
quite suddenly, there fell about my neck and 
shoulders, around my arms and body, a 
number of pliant fiber ropes. 

In a jiffy I was trussed up as neatly as you 
might wish. One of the nooses dropped to 
my ankles and was jerked up with a sudden¬ 
ness that brought me to my face upon the 
ground. Then something heavy and hairy 
sprang upon my back. I fought to draw my 
knife, but hairy hands grasped my wrists 
and, dragging them behind my back, bound 
them securely. 

Next my feet were bound. Then I was 
turned over upon my back to look up into 
the faces of my captors. 

And what faces! Imagine if you can a 
cross between a sheep and a gorilla, and you 
will have some conception of the physiog- 




CAPTIVE 


169 


nomy of the creature that bent close above 
me, and of those of the half-dozen others 
that clustered about. There was the facial 
length and great eyes of the sheep, and the 
bull-neck and hideous fangs of the gorilla. 
The bodies and limbs were both man and 
gorilla-like. 

As they bent over me they conversed in a 
monosyllabic tongue that was perfectly 
intelligible to me. It was something of a 
simplified language that had no need for 
aught but nouns and verbs, but such words 
as it included were the same as those of the 
human beings of Pellucidar. It was ampli¬ 
fied by many gestures which filled in the 
speech-gaps. 

I asked them what they intended doing 
with me; but, like our own North American 
Indians when questioned by a white man, 
they pretended not to understand me. One 
of them swung me to his shoulder as lightly 
as if I had been a shoat. He was a huge 
creature, as were his fellows, standing fully 
seven feet upon his short legs and weighing 
considerably more than a quarter of a ton. 




A 70 


PELLUCIDAR 


Two went ahead of my bearer and three 
behind. In this order we cut to the right 
through the forest to the foot of the hill 
where precipitous cliffs appeared to bar our 
farther progress in this direction. But my 
escort never paused. Like ants upon a wall, 
they scaled that seemingly unscalable bar¬ 
rier, clinging, Heaven knows how, to its 
ragged, perpendicular face. During most of 
the short journey to the summit I must 
admit that my hair stood on end. Presently, 
however, we topped the thing and stood 
upon the level mesa w^hich crowned it. 

Immediately from all about, out of bur¬ 
rows and rough, rocky lairs, poured a perfect 
torrent of beasts similar to my captors. 
They clustered about, jabbering at my 
guards and attempting to get their hands 
upon me, whether from curiosity or a desire 
to do me bodily harm I did not know, since 
my escort with bared fangs and heavy blows 
kept them oif. 

Across the mesa we went, to stop at last 
before a large pile of rocks in which an 
opening appeared. Here my guards set me 






CAPTIVE 


171 


upon my feet and called out a word which 
sounded like “ Gr-gr-gr!” and which I later 
learned was the name of their king. 

Presently there emerged from the caver¬ 
nous depths of the lair a monstrous creature, 
scarred from a hundred battles, almost hair¬ 
less and with an empty socket where one eye 
had been. The other eye, sheeplike in its 
mildness, gave the most startling appear¬ 
ance to the beast, which but for that single 
timid orb was the most fearsome thing that 
one could imagine. 

I had encountered the black, hairless, 
long-tailed ape-things of the mainland — the 
creatures which Perrv thought might consti- 
tute the link between the higher orders of 
apes and man — but these brute-men of 
Gr-gr-gr seemed to set that theory back to 
zero, for there was less similiarity between 
the black ape-men and these creatures than 
there was between the latter and man, while 
both had many human attributes, some of 
which were better developed in one species 
and some in the other. 

The black apes were hairless and built 






172 


PELLUCIDAR 


thatched huts in their arboreal retreats; they 
kept domesticated dogs and ruminants, in 
which respect they were farther advanced 
than the human beings of Pellucidar; but 
they appeared to have only a meager lan¬ 
guage, and sported long, apelike tails. 

On the other hand, Gr-gr-gr’s people were, 
for the most part, quite hairy, but they were 
tailless and had a language similar to that 
of the human race of Pellucidar; nor were 
they arboreal. Their skins, where skin 
showed, were white. 

From the foregoing facts and others that 
I have noted during my long life within Pel¬ 
lucidar, which is now passing through an 
age analogous to some preglacial age of the 
outer crust, I am constrained to the belief 
that evolution is not so much a gradual 
transition from one form to another as it is 
an accident of breeding, either by crossing 
or the hazards of birth. In other words, it 
is my belief that the first man was a freak 
of nature — nor would one have to draw 
over-strongly upon his credulity to be con¬ 
vinced that Gr-gr-gr and his tribe were also 




CAPTIVE 


173 


freaks. 

The great man-brute seated himself up¬ 
on a flat rock — his throne, I imagine — 
just before the entrance to his lair. With 
elbows on knees and chin in palms he re¬ 
garded me intently through his lone sheep- 
eye while one of my captors told of my 
taking. 

When all had been related Gr-gr-gr ques¬ 
tioned me. I shall not attempt to quote these 
people in their own abbreviated tongue — 
you would have even greater difficulty in in¬ 
terpreting them than did I. Instead, I shall 
put the words into their mouths which will 
carry to you the ideas which they intended 
to convey. 

“You are an enemy/’ was Gr-gr-gr’s ini¬ 
tial declaration. “You belong to the tribe 
of Hooja.” 

Ah! So they knew Hooja and he was 
their enemy! Good! 

“ I am an enemy of Hooja,” I replied. 
“ He has stolen my mate and I have come 
here to take her away from him and punish 
Hooja.” 




174 


PELLUCIDAR 


“ How could you do that alone ?” 

“I do not know/’ I answered, ‘but I 
should have tried had you not captured me. 
What do you intend to do with me?” 

“You shall work for us.” 

“You will not kill me?” I asked. 

“We do not kill except in self-defense,” 
he replied; “self-defense and punishment. 
Those who would kill us and those who do 
wrong we kill. If we knew that you were 
one of Hooja’s people we might kill you, for 
all Hooja’s people are bad people; but you 
say you are an enemy of Hooja. You. may 
not speak the truth, but until we learn that 
you have lied we shall not kill you. You 
shall work.” 

“If you hate Hooja,” I suggested, “why 
not let me, who hate him, too, go and pun¬ 
ish him?” 

For some time Gr-gr-gr sat in thought. 
Then he raised his head and addressed my 
guard. 

“Take him to his work,” he ordered. 

His tone was final. As if to emphasize it 
he turned and entered his burrow. My 






CAPTIVE 


175 


guard conducted me farther into the mesa, 
where we came presently to a tiny depres¬ 
sion or valley, at one end of which gushed 
a warm spring. 

The view that opened before me was the 
most surprising that I have ever seen. In 
the hollow, which must have covered several 
hundred acres, were numerous fields of 
growing things, and working all about with 
crude implements or with no implements 
at all other than their bare hands were 
many of the brute-men engaged in the first 
agriculture that I had seen within Pelluci- 
dar. 

They put me to work cultivating in a patch 
of melons. I never was a farmer nor par¬ 
ticularly keen for this sort of work, and I 
am free to confess that time never had 
dragged so heavily as it did during the hour 
or the year I spent there at that work. Flow 
long it really was I do not know, of course; 
but it was all too long. 

The creatures that worked about me were 
quite simple and friendly. One ol them 
proved to be a son of Gr-gr-gr. He had 





176 


PELLUC1DAR 


broken some minor tribal law, and was work¬ 
ing out his sentence in the fields. He told 
me that his tribe had lived upon this hilltop 
always, and that there were other tribes like 
them dwelling upon other hilltops. They 
had no wars and had always lived in peace 
and harmony, menaced only by the larger 
carnivora of the island, until my kind had 
come under a creature called Hooja, and 
attacked and killed them when they 
chanced to descend from their natural fort¬ 
resses to visit their fellows upon other lofty 
mesas. 

Now they were afraid; but some day they 
would go in a body and fall upon Hooja 
and his people and slay them all. 1 explained 
to him that I was Hooja’s enemy, and asked, 
when they were ready to go, that I be al¬ 
lowed to go with them, or, better still, that 
they let me go ahead and learn all that I 
could about the village where Hooja dwelt 
so that they might attack it with the best 
chance of success. 

Gr-gr-gr’s son seemed much impressed by 
my suggestion. He said that when he was 




CAPTIVE 


177 


through in the fields he would speak to his 
father about the matter. 

Some time after this Gr-gr-gr came 
through the fields where we were, and his 
son spoke to him upon the subject, but the 
old gentleman was evidently in anything but 
a good humor, for he cuffed the youngster 
and, turning upon me, informed me that he 
was convinced that I had lied to him, and 
that I was one of Hooja’s people. 

‘'Wherefore/’ he concluded, “we shall 
slay you as soon as the melons are cultivated. 
Hasten, therefore.” 

And hasten I did. I hastened to cultivate 
the weeds which grew among the melon- 
vines. Where there had been one sickly weed 
before, I nourished two healthy ones. When 
I found a particularly promising variety of 
weed growing elsewhere than among my 
melons, I forthwith dug it up and trans¬ 
planted it among my charges. 

My masters did not seem to realize my 
perfidy. They saw me always laboring dili¬ 
gently in the melon-patch, and as time enters 
not into the reckoning of Pellucidarians 




178 


PELLUCIDAR 


even of human beings and much iess of 
brutes and half brutes — I might have lived 
on indefinitely through this subterfuge had 
not that occurred which tool^ me out of the 
melon-patch for good and all. 






CHAPTER IX 

HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPEAR 

I HAD built a little shelter of rocks and 
brush where I might crawl in and sleep 
out of the perpetual light and heat of the 
noonday sun. When I was tired or hungry I 
retired to my humble cot. 

My masters never interposed the slightest 
objection. As a matter of fact, they were 
very good to me, nor did I see aught while I 
was among them to indicate that they are 
ever else than a simple, kindly folk when 
left to themselves. Their awe-inspiring size, 
terrific strength, mighty fighting-fangs, and 
hideous appearance are but the attributes 
necessary to the successful waging of their 
constant battle for survival, and well 
do they employ them when the need arises. 
The only flesh they eat is that of herbivorous 
animals and birds. When they hunt the 
mighty thag, the prehistoric bos of the outer 
crust, a single male, with his fiber rope, will 
catch and kill the greatest of the bulls. 
Well, as I was about to say, I had this 

179 


180 


PELLUCIDAR 


little shelter at the edge of my melon-patch. 
Here I was resting from my labors on a 
certain occasion when I heard a great hub¬ 
bub in the village, which lay about a quarter 
of a mile away. 

Presently a male came racing toward the 
field, shouting excitedly. As he approached 
I came from my shelter to learn what all the 
commotion might be about, for the monot¬ 
ony of my existence in the melon-patch must 
have fostered that trait of curiosity from 
which it had always been my secret boast I 
am peculiarly free. 

The other workers also ran forward to 
meet the messenger, who quickly unbur¬ 
dened himself of his information, and as 
quickly turned and scampered back toward 
the village. When running these beast-men 
often go upon all fours. Thus they leap 
over obstacles that would slow up a human 
being, and upon the level attain a speed that 
would make a thoroughbred look to his 
laurels. The result in this instance was that 
before I had more than assimilated the gist 
of the word which had been brought to the 




HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPEAR 181 


fields, I was alone, watching my erstwhile 
co-workers speeding villageward. 

I was alone! It was the first time since 
my capture that no beast-man had been 
within sight of me. I was alone! And all 
my captors were in the village at the oppo¬ 
site edge of the mesa repelling an attack of 
Hooja’s horde! 

It seemed from the messenger’s tale that 
two of Gr-gr-gr’s great males had been set 
upon by a half-dozen of Hooja’s cutthroats 
while the former were peaceably returning 
from the thag hunt. The two had returned 
to the village unscratched, while but a single 
one of Hooja’s half-dozen had escaped to re¬ 
port the outcome of the battle to their leader. 
Now Hooja was coming to punish Gr-gr-gr’s 
people. With his large force, armed with 
the bows and arrows that Hooja had learned 
from me to make, with long lances and sharp 
knives, I feared that even the mighty 
strength of the beast-men could avail them 
but little. 

At last had come the opportunity for 
which I waited! I was free to make for the 




PELLUCIDAR 


3.82 

far end of the mesa, find my way to the val¬ 
ley below, and while the two forces were en¬ 
gaged in their struggle, continue my search 
for Hooja’s village, which I had learned from 
the beast-men lay farther on down the river 
that I had been following when taken 
prisoner. 

As I turned to make for the mesa’s rim 
the sounds of battle came plainly to my ears 
— the hoarse shouts of men mingled with 
the half-beastly roars and growls of the 
brute-folk. 

Did I take advantage of my opportunity? 

I did not. Instead, lured by the din of 
strife and by the desire to deliver a stroke, 
however feeble, against hated Hooja, I 
wheeled and ran directly toward the village. 

When I reached the edge of the plateau 
such a scene met my astonished gaze as 
never before had startled it, for the unique 
battle-methods of the half-brutes were rather 
the most remarkable ] had ever witnessed. 
Along the very edge of the cliff-top Stood a 
thin line of mighty males — the best rope- 
throwers of the tribe. A few feet behind 








I 


'HROATS AP] 


these uiv males, with 

tion of about twenty, formed a s 
Still farther in the rear all the v ■ 
young children were clustered in 
group under the protection of the 
twenty fighting males and all the 

But it was the work of the firs 
that interested me. The forces of 
great horde of savage Sagoths ana pnmv.,„ 
cave men — were working their way up the 
steep cliff-face, their agility but slightly less 
than that of my captors who had clambered 
so nimbly aloft — even he who was burdened 
by my weight. 

As the attackers came on they paused oc¬ 
casionally wherever a projection gave them 
sufficient foothold and launched arrows and 
spears at the defenders above them. During 
the entire battle both sides hurled taunts 
and insults at one another — the human 
beings naturally excelling the brutes in the 
coarseness and vileness of their vilification 
and invective. 

The “ firing-line ” of the brute-men wielded 
no weapon other than their long fiber nooses. 






PELLUCID AR 


email came within range of them 
ould settle unerringly about him 
ild be dragged, fighting and yell- 
cliff-top, unless, as occasionally 
e was quick enough to draw his 

< ut the rope above him, in which 

ually plunged downward to a no 
death than that which awaited 

h 1 Tf P D OVf* 

k A .1 1 . <t tU ■* V 

I Hose who were hauled up within reach of 
the powerful clutches of the defenders had 
the nooses snatched from them and were 
catapulted back through the first line to the 
second, where they were seized and killed by 
the simple expedient of a single powerful 
closing of mighty fangs upon the backs of j 
their necks. 

But the arrows of the invaders were tak¬ 
ing a much heavier toll than the nooses of , 
the defenders and I foresaw that it was but 
a matter of time before Hooja’s forces must 
conquer unless the brute-men changed their 
tactics, or the cave men tired of the battle. 

Gr-gr-gr was standing in the center of the 
first line. All about him were boulders and 






HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPEAR m 


large fragments of broken rock. I ap¬ 
proached him and without a word toppled a 
large mass of rock over the edge of the cliff. 
It fell directly upon the head of an archer, 
crushing him to instant death and carrying 
his mangled corpse with it to the bottom of 
the declivity, and on its way brushing three 
more of the attackers into the hereafter. 

Gr-gr-gr turned tov/ard me in surprise. 
For an instant he appeared to doubt the sin¬ 
cerity of my motives. I felt that perhaps my 
time had come when he reached for me with 
one of his giant paws; but I dodged him, and 
running a few paces to the right hurled down 
another missile. It, too, did its allotted work 
of destruction. Then I picked up smaller 
fragments and with all the control and accu¬ 
racy for which I had earned justly deserved 
fame in my collegiate days I rained down a 
hail of death upon those beneath me. 

Gr-gr-gr was coming toward me again. I 
pointed to the litter of rubble upon the cliff- 
top. 

“Hurl these down upon the enemy l” I 
cried to him. “Tell your warriors to throw 







186 


PELLUCIDAR 


rocks down upon them!” 

At my words the others of the first line, 
who had been interested spectators of my 
tactics, seized upon great boulders or bits 
of rock, whichever came first to their hands, 
and, without waiting for a command from 
Gr-gr-gr, deluged the terrified cave men with 
a perfect avalanche of stone. In less than 
no time the cliff-face was stripped of enemies 
and the village of Gr-gr-gr was saved. 

Gr-gr-gr was standing beside me when the 
last of the cave men disappeared in rapid 
flight down the valley. He was looking at 
me intently. 

“Those were your people,” he said. 
“Why did you kill them?” 

“They were not my people,” I returned. 
“I have told you that before, but you would 
not believe me. Will you believe me now 
when I tell you that I hate Hooja and his 
tribe as much as you do? Will you believe 
me when I tell you that I wish to be the 
friend of Gr-gr-gr?” 

For some time he stood there beside me, 
scratching his head. Evidently it was no 




HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPEAR IS 7 

less difficult for him to readjust his precon¬ 
ceived conclusions than it is for most human 
beings; but finally the idea percolated — 
which it might never have done had he been 
a man, or I might qualify that statement by 
saying had he been some men. Finally he 
spoke. 

“ Gilak,” he said, “you have made Gr-gr-gr 
ashamed. He would have killed you. How 
can he reward you?” 

“Set me free,” I replied quickly. 

“You are free,” he said. “You may go 
down when you wish, or you may stay with 
us. If you go you may always return. We 
are your friends.” 

Naturally, I elected to go. I explained all 
over again to Gr-gr-gr the nature of my mis¬ 
sion. He listened attentively; after I had 
done he offered to send some of his people 
with me to guide me to Hooja’s village. I 
was not slow in accepting his offer. 

First, however, we must eat. The hunters 
upon whom Hooja’s men had iallen had 
brought back the meat of a great thag. 
There would be a feast to commemorate the 




1S8 


PELLUCID AR 


victory — a feast and dancing*. 

I had never witnessed a tribal function of 
the brute-folk, though I had often heard 
strange sounds coming from the village, 
where I had not been allowed since my cap¬ 
ture. Now I took part in one of their orgies. 

It will live forever in my memory. The 
combination of bestiality and humanity was 
oftentimes pathetic, and again grotesque or 
horrible. Beneath the glaring noonday sun, 
in the sweltering heat cf the mesa-top, the 
huge, hairy creatures leaped in a great circle. 
They coiled and threw their fiber-ropes; 
they hurled taunts and insults at an imagi¬ 
nary foe; they fell upon the carcass of the 
thag and literally tore it to pieces; and they 
ceased only when, gorged, they could no 
longer move. 

I had to wait until the processes of diges¬ 
tion had released my escort from its torpor. 
Some had eaten until their abdomens were 
so distended that I thought they must burst, 
for beside the thag there had been fully a 
hundred antelopes of various sizes and varied 
degrees of decomposition, which they had 






HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPEAR 189 


unearthed from burial beneath the floors of 
their lairs to grace the banquet-board. 

But at last we were started — six great 
males and myself. Gr-gr-gr had returned my 
weapons to me, and at last I was once more 
upon my oft-interrupted way toward my 
goal. Whether I should find Dian at the end 
of my journey or no I could not even sur¬ 
mise; but I was none the less impatient to 
be off, for if only the worst lay in store for 
me I wished to know even the worst at once. 

I could scarce believe that my proud mate 
would still be alive in the power of Hooja; 
but time upon Pellucidar is so strange a 
thing that I realized that to her or to him 
only a few minutes might have elapsed since 
his subtle trickery had enabled him to steal 
her away from Phutra. Or she might have 
found the means either to repel his advances 
or escape him. 

As we descended the cliff we disturbed a 
great pack of large hyena-like beasts — 
hyaena spelaeus, Perry calls them — who 
were busy among the corpses of the cave men 
fallen in battle. The ugly creatures were far 




190 


PELLUCIDAR 


from the cowardly things that our own 
hyenas are reputed to be; they stood their 
ground with bared fangs as we approached 
them. But, as I was later to learn, so for¬ 
midable are the brute-folk that there are few 
even of the larger carnivora that will not 
make way for them when they go abroad. 
So the hyenas moved a little from our line 
of march, closing in again upon their feasts 
when we had passed. 

We made our way steadily down the rim 
of the beautiful river which flows the length 
of the island, coming at last to a wood rather 
denser than any that I had before encoun¬ 
tered in this country. Well within this for¬ 
est my escort halted. 

“ There!” they said, and pointed ahead. 
“We are to go no farther.” 

Thus having guided me to my destination 
they left me. Ahead of me, through the 
trees, I could see what appeared to be the 
foot of a steep hill. Toward this I made my 
way. The forest ran to the very base of a 
cliff, in the face of which were the mouths 
of many caves. They appeared untenanted; 




HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPEAR 191 


but I decided to watch for a while before 
venturing farther. A large tree, densely 
foliaged, offered a splendid vantage-point 
from which to spy upon the cliff, so I clam¬ 
bered among its branches where, securely 
hidden, I could watch what transpired about 
the caves. 

It seemed that I had scarcely settled my¬ 
self in a comfortable position before a party 
of cave men emerged from one of the smaller 
apertures in the cliff-face, about fifty feet 
from the base. They descended into the for¬ 
est and disappeared. Soon after came sev¬ 
eral others from the same cave, and after 
them, at a short interval, a score of women 
and children, who came into the wood to 
gather fruit. There were several warriors 
with them—a guard, I presume. 

After this came other parties, and two or 
three groups who passed out of the forest 
and up the cliff-face to enter the same cave. 
I could not understand it. All who had come 
out had emerged from the same cave. All 
who returned re-entered it. No other cave 
gave evidence of habitation, and no cave but 




192 


PELLUCID AR 


one of extraordinary size could have accom¬ 
modated all the people whom I had seen pass 
in and out of its mouth. 

For a long time I sat and watched the 
coming and going of great numbers of the 
cave-folk. Not once did one leave the cliff 
by any other opening save that from which 
I had seen the first party come, nor did any 
re-enter the cliff through another aperture. 

What a cave it must be, I thought, that 
houses an entire tribe! But, dissatisfied of 
the truth of my surmise, I climbed higher 
among the branches of the tree that I might 
get a better view of other portions of the 
cliff. High above the ground I reached a 
point whence I could see the summit of the 
hill. Evidently it was a fiat-topped butte 
simiiar to that on which dwelt the tribe of 
Gr-gr-gr. 

As I sat gazing at it a figure appeared at 
the very edge. It was that of a young girl in 
whose hair was a gorgeous bloom plucked 
from some flowering tree of the forest. I 
had seen her pass beneath me but a short 
while before and enter the small cave that 





HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPEAR 193 


had swallowed all of the returning' tribes¬ 
men. 

The mystery was solved. The cave was 
but the mouth of a passage that led upward 
through the cliff to the summit of the hill 
It served merely as an avenue from their 
lofty citadel to the valley below. 

No sooner had the truth flashed upon me 
than the realization came that I must seek 
some other means of reaching the village, 
for to pass unobserved through this well- 
traveled thoroughfare would be impossible. 
At the moment there was no one in sight 
below me, so I slid quickly from my arboreal 
watch-tower to the ground and moved rap¬ 
idly away to the right with the intention of 
circling the hill if necessary until I had found 
an unwatched spot where I might have some 
slight chance of scaling the heights and 
’ mg the top unseen. 

f close to the edge of the forest, in 
midst of which the hill seemed to 
lough I carefully scanned the cliff 
ersed its base, I saw no sign of any 
:rance than that to which my guides 





194 


PELLUCIDAR 


had led me. 

After some little time the roar of the sea 
broke upon my ears. Shortly after I came 
upon the broad ocean which breaks at this 
point at the very foot of the great hill where 
Hooja had found safe refuge for himself and 
his villains. 

I was just about to clamber along the 
jagged rocks which lie at the base of the cliff 
next to the sea, in search of some foothold 
to the top, when I chanced to see a canoe 
rounding the end of the island. I threw my¬ 
self down behind a large boulder where I 
could watch the dugout and its occupants 
without myself being seen. 

They paddled toward me for a while and 
then, about a hundred yards from me, they 
turned straight in toward the foot of the 
frowning cliffs. From where I was it 
seemed that they were bent upon self-de¬ 
struction, since the roar of the breakers 
beating upon the perpendicular rock-face ap¬ 
peared to offer only death to any one who 
might venture within their relentless clutch. 

A mass of rock would soon hide them from 




HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPEAR 195 


my view; but so keen was the excitement of 
the instant that I could not refrain from 
crawling forward to a point whence I could 
watch the dashing of the small craft to pieces 
on the jagged rocks that loomed before her, 
although I risked discovery from above to 
accomplish my design. 

When I had reached a point where I could 
again see the dugout, I was just in time to 
see it glide unharmed between two needle- 
pointed sentinels of granite and float quietly 
upon the unruffled bosom of a tiny cove. 

Again I crouched behind a boulder to ob¬ 
serve what would next transpire; nor did I 
have long to wait. The dugout, which con¬ 
tained but two men, was drawn close to the 
rocky wall. A fiber rope, one end of which 
was tied to the boat, was made fast about 
a projection of the cliff face. 

Then the two men commenced the ascent 
of the almost perpendicular wall toward the 
summit several hundred feet above. I looked 
on in amazement, for, splendid climbers 
though the cave men of Pellucidar are, 1 
never before had seen so remarkable a feat 




196 


PELLUCIDAR 


performed. Upward they moved without 
a pause, to disappear at last over the summit. 

When I felt reasonably sure that they had 
gone for a while at least I crawled from my 
hiding-place and at the risk of a broken neck 
leaped and scrambled to the spot where their 
canoe was moored. 

If they had scaled that cliff I could, and 
if I couldn’t I should die in the attempt. 

But when I turned to the accomplishment 
of the task I found it easier than I had 
imagined it would be, since I immediately 
discovered that shallow hand and footholds 
had been scooped in the cliff’s rocky face, 
forming a crude ladder from the base to the 
summit. 

At last I reached the top, and very glad 
I was, too. Cautiously I raised my head 
until my eyes were above the cliff-crest. Be¬ 
fore me spread a rough mesa, liberally sprin¬ 
kled with large boulders. There was no vil¬ 
lage in sight nor any living creature. 

I drew myself to level ground and stood 
erect. A few trees grew among the boulders. 
Very carefully I advanced from tree to tree 






■ ■■ mm I..WIH .■■I . . I I ■ H I i r ■ i ■ I ■■ i i ■■ ■■ i i ■ m 

HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPE; 

and boulder to boulder toward th 
end of the mesa. 1 stopped often 
and look cautiously about me in eve 
tion. 

How I wished that I had my revolver emu 
rifle! I would not have to worm my way 
like a scared cat toward Hooja’s village, nor 
did I relish doing so now; but Dian’s life 
might hinge upon the success of my venture, 
and so I could not afford to take chances. 
To have met suddenly with discovery and 
had a score or more of armed warriors upon 
me might have been very grand and heroic; 
but it would have immediately put an end to 
all my earthly activities, nor have accom¬ 
plished aught in the service of Dian. 

Well, I must have traveled nearly a mile 
across that mesa without seeing a sign Sf 
anyone, when all of a sudden, as I crept 
around the edge of a boulder, I ran plump 
into a man, down on all fours like myself, 
crawling toward me. 






CHAPTER X 

THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON 


H IS head was turned over his shoulder as 
I first saw him — he was looking back 
toward the village. As I leaped for him his 
eyes fell upon me. Never in my life have I 
seen a more surprised mortal than this poor 
cave man. Before he could utter a single 
scream of warning or alarm I had my fingers 
on his throat and had dragged him behind 
the boulder, where I proceeded to sit upon 
# him, while I figured out what I had best do 
with him. 

He struggled a little at first, but finally lay 
still, and so I released the pressure of my 
fingers at his windpipe, for which I imagine 
he was quite thankful — I know that I should 
have been. 

I hated to kill him in cold blood; but what 
else I was to do with him I could not see, 
for to turn him loose would have been merely 
to have the entire village aroused and down 
upon me in a moment. The fellow lay look¬ 
ing up at me with the surprise still deeply 

198 


THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON 199 


written on his countenance. At last, all of 
a sudden, a look of recognition entered his 
eyes. 

“ I have seen you before/’ he said. “ I saw 
you in the arena at the Mahars’ city of 
Phutra when the thipdars dragged the tarag 
from you and your mate. I never under¬ 
stood that. Afterward they put me in the 
arena with two warriors from Gombul.” 

He smiled in recollection. 

“ It would have been the same had there 
been ten warriors from Gombul. I slew 
them, winning my freedom. Look!” 

He half turned his left shoulder toward 
me, exhibiting the newly healed scar of the 
Mahars’ branded mark. 

“Then,” he continued, “as I was return¬ 
ing to my people I met some of them fleeing. 
They told me that one called Hooja the Sly 
One had come' and seized our village, put¬ 
ting our people into slavery. So I hurried 
hither to learn the truth, and, sure enough, 
here I found Hooja and his wicked men liv¬ 
ing in my village, and my father’s people but 
slaves among them. 




200 


PELLUCIDAR 


“ I was discovered and captured, but 
Hooja did not kill me. I am the chief’s son, 
and through me he hoped to win my father’s 
warriors back to the village to help him in 
a great war he says that he will soon com¬ 
mence. 

“Among his prisoners is Dian the Beauti¬ 
ful One, whose brother, Dacor the Strong 
One, chief of Amoz, once saved my life when 
he came to Thuria to steal a mate. 1 helped 
him capture her, and we are good friends. So 
when I learned that Dian the Beautiful One 
was Hooja’s prisoner, I told him that I 
would not aid him if lie harmed her. 

“ Recently one of Hooja’s warriors over¬ 
heard me talking with another prisoner. We 
were planning to combine all the prisoners, 
seize weapons, and when most of Hooja’s 
warriors were away, slay the rest and retake 
our hilltop. Had we done so we could have 
held it, for there are only two entrances — 
the narrow tunnel at one end and the steep 
path up the cliffs at the other. 

“But when Hooja heard what we had 
planned he was very angry, and ordered that 





THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON 201 


I die. They bound me hand and foot and 
placed me in a cave until all the warriors 
should return to witness my death; but while 
they were away I heard someone calling me¬ 
in a muffled voice which seemed to come 
from the wall of the cave. When I replied 
the voice, which was a woman’s, told me that 
she had overheard all that had passed be¬ 
tween me and those who had brought me 
thither, and that she was Dacor’s sister and 
would find a way to help me. 

“Presently a little hole appeared in the 
wall at the point from which the voice had 
come. After a time I saw a woman’s hand 
digging with a bit of stone. Dacor’s sister 
made a hole in the wall between the cave 
where I lay bound and that in which she 
had been confined, and soon she was by my 
side and had cut my bonds. 

“We talked then, and I offered to make 
the attempt to take her away and back to the 
land of Sari, where she told me she would 
be able to learn the whereabouts of her mate. 
Just now I was going to the other end of 
the island to see if a boat lay there, and if 




202 


PELLUCIDAR 


the way was clear for our escape. Most of 
the boats are always away now, for a great 
many of Hooja’s men and nearly all the 
slaves are upon the Island of Trees, where 
Hooja is having many boats built to carry 
his warriors across the water to the mouth 
of a great river which he discovered while 
he was returning from Phutra — a vast river 
that empties into the sea there.” 

The speaker pointed toward the north¬ 
east. 

“ It is wide and smooth and slow-running 
almost to the land of Sari,” he added. 

“And where is Dian the Beautiful One 
now?” I asked. 

-■ 

I had released my prisoner as soon as I 
found that he was Hooja’s enemy, and now 
the pair of us were squatting beside the boul¬ 
der while he told his story. 

“She returned to the cave where she had 
been imprisoned,” he replied, “and is await¬ 
ing me there.” 

“There is no danger that Hooja will come 
while you are away?” 

“Hooja is upon the Island of Trees,” he 




THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON 203 


replied. 

“ Can you direct me to the cave so that I 
can find it alone ?” I asked. 

t 

He said he could, and in the strange yet 
explicit fashion of the Pellucidarians he ex¬ 
plained minutely how I might reach the cave 
where he had been imprisoned, and through 
the hole in its wall reach Dian. 

I thought it best for but one of us to re¬ 
turn, since two could accomplish but little 
more than one and would double the risk 
of discovery. In the meantime he could 
make his way to the sea and guard the boat, 
which I told him lay there at the foot of the 
cliff. 

I told him to await us at the cliff-top, and 
if Dian came alone to do his best to get away 
with her and take her to Sari, as I thought 
it quite possible that, in case of detection and 
pursuit, it might be necessary for me to hold 
off Hooja’s people while Dian made her way 
alone to where my new friend was to await 
her. I impressed upon him the fact that he 
might have to resort to trickery or even to 
force to get Dian to leave me; but I made 




204 


PELLUCID AR 


him promise that he would sacrifice every¬ 
thing, even his life, in an attempt to rescue 
Dacor’s sister. 

Then we parted — he to take up his posi¬ 
tion where he could watch the boat and await 
Dian, 1 to crawl cautiously on toward the 
caves. I had no difficulty in following the 
directions given me by Juag, the name by 
which Dacor’s friend said he was called. 
There v/as the leaning tree, my first point 
he told me to look for after rounding the 
boulder where we had met. After that I 
crawled to the balanced rock, a huge boulder 
resting upon a tiny base no larger than the 
palm of your hand. 

From here I had my first view of the vil¬ 
lage of caves. A low bluff rah diagonally 
across one end of the mesa, and in the face of 
this bluff were the mouths o': many caves. 
Zig-zag trails led up to them, and narrow 
ledges scooped from the face of the soft rock 
connected those upon the same level. 

The cave in which Juag had been confined 
was at the extreme end of the cliff nearest 
me. By taking advantage of the bluff itself, I 







THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON 205 


could approach within a few feet of the aper¬ 
ture without being visible from any other 
cave. There were few people about at the 
time; most of these were congregated at the 
foot of the far end of the bluff, where they 
were so engrossed in excited conversation 
that I felt but little fear of detection. How¬ 
ever I exercised the greatest care in ap¬ 
proaching the cliff. After watching for a 
while until I caught an instant when every 
head was turned away from me, I darted, 
rabbitlike, into the cave. 

Like many of the man-made caves of 
Pellucidar. this one consisted of three cham¬ 
bers, one behind another, and all unlit except 
for what sunlight filtered in through the ex¬ 
ternal opening. The result was gradually 
increasing darkness as one passed into each 
succeeding chamber. 

In the last of the three I could just dis¬ 
tinguish objects, and that was all. As I was 
groping around the walls for the hole that 
should lead into the cave where Dian was im¬ 
prisoned, I heard a man's voice quite close to 


me. 




206 


PELLUCIDAR 


The speaker had evidently but just en¬ 
tered, for he spoke in a loud tone, demand¬ 
ing the whereabouts of one whom he had 
come in search of. 

“Where are you, woman?" he cried. 
“Hooja has sent for you." 

And then a woman’s voice answered him: 

“And what does Hooja want of me?” 

The voice was Dian’s. I groped in the 
direction of the sounds, feeling for the hole. 

“ He wishes you brought to the Island of 
Trees,” replied the man; “for he is ready to 
take you as his mate.” 

“I will not go,” said Dian. “I will die 
first.” 

“ I am sent to bring you, and bring you I 
shall.” 

I could hear him crossing the cave toward 
her. 

Frantically I clawed the wall of the cave 
in which I was in an effort to find the elusive 
aperture that would lead me to Dian’s side. 

I heard the sound of a scuffle in the next 
cave. Then my fingers sank into loose rock 
and earth in the side of the cave. In an 





THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON 207 


instant I realized why I had been unable to 
find the opening while I had been lightly 
feeling the surface of the walls — Dian had 
blocked up the hole she had made lest it 
arouse suspicion and lead to an early dis¬ 
covery of Juag’s escape. 

Plunging my weight against the crum¬ 
bling mass, 1 sent it crashing into the ad¬ 
joining cavern. With it came I, David, 
Emperor of Pellucidar. I doubt if any other 
potentate in a world’s history ever made a 
more undignified entrance. I landed head 
first on all fours, but I came quickly and was 
on my feet before the man in the dark 
guessed what had happened. 

He saw me, though, when I arose and, 
sensing that no friend came thus precipi¬ 
tately, turned to meet me even as I charged 
him. I had my stone knife in my hand, and 
he had his. In the darkness of the cave there 
was little opportunity for a display of sci¬ 
ence, though even at that I venture to say 
that we fought a very pretty duel. 

Before I came to Pellucidar I do not recall 
that I ever had seen a stone knife, and I am 




20S 


PELLUCID AR 


sure that I never fought with a knife of any 
description; but now I do not have to take 
rny hat off to any of them when it comes to 
wielding that primitive yet wicked weapon. 

I could just see Dian in the darkness, but 
I knew that she could not see my features 
or recognize me; and I enjoyed in anticipa¬ 
tion, even while I was fighting for her life 
and mine, her dear joy when she should dis¬ 
cover that it was I who was her deliverer. 

My opponent was large, but he also was 
active and no mean knife-man. He caught 
me once fairly in the shoulder — I carry the 
scar yet, and shall carry it to the grave. And 
then he did a foolish thing, for as I leaped 
back to gain a second in which to calm the 
shock of the wound he rushed after me and 
tried to clinch. He rather neglected his 
knife for the moment in his greater desire 

o 

to get his hands on me. Seeing the opening, 
I swung my left fist fairly to the point of his 
jaw. 

Down he went. Before ever he could 
scramble up again I was on him and had 
buried my knife in his heart. Then I stood 





THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON 209 


up — and there was Dian facing me and peer¬ 
ing at me through the dense gloom. 

“You are not Juag!” she exclaimed. 

“ Who are von ? ” 

* 

I took a step toward her, my arms out¬ 
stretched. 

“ It is I, Diaii/’ I said. “ It is David .” 

At the sound of my voice she gave a little 
cry in which tears were mingled — a pathetic 
little cry that told me all without words how 
far hope had gone from her — and then she 
ran forward and threw herself in my arms. 
I covered her perfect lips and her beautiful 
face with kisses, and stroked her thick black 
hair, and told her again and again what she 
already knew — what she had known for 
years — that I loved her better than all else 
which two worlds had to offer. We couldn’t 
devote much time, though, to the happiness 
of love-making, for we were in the midst of 
enemies who might discover us at any 
moment. 

I drew her into the adjoining cave. Thence 
we made our way to the mouth of the cave 
that had given me entrance to the cliff. Here 









210 


PELLUCIDAR 


9 

I reconnoitered for a moment, and seeing the 
coast clear, ran swiftly forth with Dian at 
my side. We dodged around the cliff-end, 
then paused for an instant, listening. No 
sound reached our ears to indicate that any 
had seen us, and we moved cautiously on¬ 
ward along the way by which I had come. 

As we went Dian told me that her captors 
had informed her how close I had come in 
search of her — even to the Land of Awful 
Shadow — and how one of Hooja’s men who 
knew me had discovered me asleep and 
robbed me of all my possessions. And then 
how Hooja had sent four others to find me 
and take me prisoner. But these men, she 
said, had not yet returned, or at least she 
had not heard of their return. 

“Nor will you ever/’ I responded, “for 
they have gone to that place whence none 
ever returns.” I then related my adventure 
with these four. 

We had come almost to the cliff-edge 
where Juag should be awaiting us when we 
saw two men walking rapidly toward the 
same spot from another direction. They did 




THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON 211 


not see us, nor did they see Juag, whom I 
now discovered hiding behind a low bush 
close to the verge of the precipice which 
drops into the sea at this point. As quickly 
as possible, without exposing ourselves too 
much to the enemy, we hastened forward 
that we might reach Juag as quickly as they. 

But they noticed him first and immedi¬ 
ately charged him, for one of them had been 
his guard, and they had both been sent to 
search for him, his escape having been dis¬ 
covered between the time he left the cave 
and the time when I reached it. Evidently 
they had wasted precious moments looking 
for him in other portions of the mesa. 

When I saw that the two of them were 
rushing him, I called out to attract their at¬ 
tention to the fact that they had more than 
a single man to cope with. They paused at 
the sound of my voice and looked about. 

When they discovered Dian and me they 
exchanged a few words, and one of them 
continued toward Juag while the other 
turned upon us. As he came nearer I saw 
that he carried in his hand one of my six- 






212 


P. 


shooters, but he was holding it by the barrel, 
evidently mistaking it for some sort of war- 
club or tomahawk. 

I could scarce refrain a grin when I 
thought of the wasted possibilities of that 
deadly revolver in the hands of an untutored 
warrior of the stone age. Had he but re¬ 
versed it and pulled the trigger he might still 
be alive; maybe he is for all I know, since I 
did not kill him then. When he was about 
twenty feet from me I flung my javelin with 
a quick movement that I had learned from 
Ghak. He ducked to avoid it, and instead of 
receiving it in his heart, for which it was 
intended, he got it on the side of the head. 

Down he went all in a heap. Then I 
glanced toward Juag. He was having a most 
exciting time. The fellow pitted against 
Juag was a veritable giant; he was hacking 
and hewing away at the poor slave with a 
villainous-looking knife that might have 
been designed for butchering mastodons. 
Step by step, he was forcing Juag back 
toward the edge of the cliff with a fiendish 
cunning that permitted his adversary no 






THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON 213 


chance to side-step the terrible consequences 
of retreat in this direction. I saw quickly 
that in another moment Juag must deliber¬ 
ately hurl himself to death over the precipice 
or be pushed over by his foeman. 

And as I saw Juag’s predicament I saw, 
too, in the same instant, a way to relieve 
him. Leaping quickly to the side of the fel¬ 
low I had just felled, I snatched up my fallen 
revolver. It was a desperate chance to take, 
and I realized it in the instant that I threw 
the gun up from my hip and pulled the trig¬ 
ger. There was no time to aim. Juag was 
upon the very brink of the chasm. His re¬ 
lentless foe was pushing him hard, beating 
at him furiously with the heavy knife. 

And then the revolver spoke- —loud and 
sharp. The giant threw his hands above his 
head, whirled about like a hoge top, and 
lunged forward over the preci ice. 

And Juag? 

He cast a single affrighte i glance in my 
direction — never before, c' course, had he 
heard the report of a firea m — and with a 
howl of dismay he, too, turned and plunged 






214 


PELLUCID AR 


headforemost from sight. Horror-struck, 
I hastened to the brink of the abyss just in 
time to see two splashes upon the surface of 
the little cove below. 

For an instant I stood there watching with 
Dian at my side. Then, to my utter amaze¬ 
ment, I saw Juag rise to the surface and 
swim strongly toward the boat. 

The fellow had dived that incredible dis¬ 
tance and come up unharmed! 

I called to him to await us below, assuring 
him that he need have no fear of my weapon, 
since it would harm only my enemies. He 
shook his head and muttered something 
which I could not hear at so great a dis¬ 
tance; but when I pushed him he promised to 
wait for us. At the same instant Dian caught 
my arm and pointed toward the village. My 
shot had brought a crowd of natives on the 
run toward us. 

The fellow whom I had stunned with my 
javelin had regained consciousness and 
scrambled to his feet. He was now racing 
as fast as he could go back toward his people. 
It looked mighty dark for Dian and me with 




THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON 215 


that ghastly descent between us and even the 
beginnings of liberty, and a horde of savage 
enemies advancing at a rapid run. 

There was but one hope. That was to get 
Dian started for the bottom without delay. 
I took her in my arms just for an instant — 
I felt, somehow, that it might be for the last 
time. For the life of me I couldn’t see how 
both of us could escape. 

I asked her if she could make the descent 
alone — if she were not afraid. She smiled 
up at me bravely and shrugged her shoul¬ 
ders. She afraid! So beautiful is she that 
I am always having difficulty in remember¬ 
ing that she is a primitive, half-savage cave 
girl of the stone age, and often find myself 
mentally limiting her capacities to those of 
the effete and overcivilized beauties of the 
outer crust. 

i 

“And you?” she asked as she swung over 
the edge of the cliff. 

“ I shall follow you after I take a shot or 
two at our friends,” I replied. “ I just want 
to give them a taste of this new medicine 
which is going to cure Pellucidar of all its 





216 


PELLUCID AR 


iiis. That will stop them long enough for 
me to join you. Now hurry, and tell Juag 
to be ready to shove off the moment I reach 
the boat, or the instant that it becomes ap¬ 
parent that I cannot reach it. 

“You, Dian, must return to Sari if any¬ 
thing happens to me, that you may devote 
your life to carrying out with Perry the 
hopes and plans for Pellucidar that are so 
dear to my heart. Promise me, dear.” 

She hated to promise to desert me, nor 
would she; only shaking her head and mak¬ 
ing no move to descend. The tribesmen were 
nearing us. Juag was shouting up to us from 
below. It was evident that he realized from 
my actions that I was attempting to per¬ 
suade Dian to descend, and that grave 
danger threatened us from above. 

“ Dive! ” he cried. “ Dive 1 ” 

I looked at Dian and then down at the 
abyss below us. The cove appeared no 
larger than a saucer. Plow Juag ever had hit 
it I could not guess. 

“Dive!” cried Juag. “It is the only way 
— there is no time to climb down.” 





CHAPTER XI 

ESCAPE 

D IAN glanced downward and shuddered. 

Her tribe were hill people — they were 
not accustomed to swimming other than in 
quiet rivers and placid lakelets. It was not 
the steep that appalled her. It was the ocean 
— vast, mysterious, terrible. 

To dive into it from this great height was 
beyond her. I couldn’t wonder, either. To 
have attempted it myself seemed too prepos¬ 
terous even for thought. Only one con¬ 
sideration could have prompted me to leap 
headforemost from that giddy height — 
suicide; or at least so I thought at the 
moment. 

“ Quick!” I urged Dian. “You cannot 
dive; but I can hold them until you reach 
safety.” 

“And you?” she asked once more. “Can 
you dive when they conic too close? Other¬ 
wise you could not escape them if you waited 
here until I reached the bottom.” 

I saw that she would not leave me unless 

217 



PELLUCIDAR 


218 

she thought that I could make that frightful 
dive as we had seen Juag make it. I glanced 
once downward; then with a mental shrug 
I assured her that I would dive the moment 
that she reached the boat. Satisfied, she 
began the descent carefully, yet swiftly. I 
watched her for a moment, my heart in my 
mouth lest some slight misstep or the slip¬ 
ping of a finger-hold should pitch her to a 
frightful death upon the rocks below. 

Then I turned toward the advancing 
Hoojans—“Hoosiers,” Perry dubbed them 
-—even going so far as to christen this island 
where Hooja held sway Indiana; it is so 
marked now upon our maps. They were 
coming on at a great rate. I raised my re¬ 
volver, took deliberate aim at the foremost 
warrior, and pulled the trigger. With the 
bark of the gun the fellow lunged forward. 
His head doubled beneath him. He rolled 
over and over two or three times before he 
came to a stop, to lie very quietly in the thick 
grass among the brilliant wild flowers. 

Those behind him halted. One of them 
hurled a javelin toward me, but it fell short 






ESCAPE 


219 


— they were just beyond javelin-range. 
There were two armed with bows and ar¬ 
rows ; these I kept my eyes on. All of them 
appeared awe-struck and frightened by the 
sound and effect of the firearm. They kept 
looking from the corpse to me and jabbering 
among themselves. 

I took advantage of the lull in hostilities 
to throw a quick glance over the edge toward 
Dian. She was half-way down the cliff and 
progressing finely. Then I turned back 
toward the enemy. One of the bowmen was 
fitting an arrow to his bow. I raised my 
hand. 

“Stop!” I cried. “Whoever shoots at me 
or advances toward me I shall kill as I killed 

him! ” 

I pointed at the dead man. The fellow 
lowered his bow. Again there was animated 
discussion. I could see that those who were 
not armed with bows were urging some¬ 
thing upon the two who were. 

At last the majority appeared to prevail, 
for simultaneously the two archers raised 
their weapons. At the same instant I fired 




220 


PELLUCID AR 


at one of them, dropping him in his tracks. 
The other, however, launched his missile, but 
the report of my gun had given him such 
a start that the arrow flew wild above my 
head. A second after and he, too, was 
sprawled upon the sward with a round hole 
between his eyes. It had been a rather good 
shot. 

I glanced over the edge again. Dian was 
almost at the bottom. I could see Juag 
standing just beneath her with his hands up- 
stretched to assist her. 

A sullen roar from the warriors recalled 
my attention toward them. They stood 
shaking their fists at me and yelling insults. 
From the direction of the village I saw a sin¬ 
gle warrior coming to join them. He was a 
huge fellow, and when he strode among them 
I could tell by his bearing and their defer¬ 
ence toward him that he was a chieftain. He 
listened to all they had to tell of the happen¬ 
ings of the last few minutes; then with a 
command and a roar he started for me with 
the whole pack at his heels. All they had 
needed had arrived — namely, a brave leader. 






ESCAPE 


221 


I had two unfired cartridges in the cham¬ 
bers of my gun. I let the big warrior have 
one of them, thinking that his death would 
stop them all. But I guess they were worked 
up to such a frenzy of rage by this time that 
nothing would have stopped them. At any 
rate, they only yelled the louder as he fell 
and increased their speed toward me. I 
dropped another with my remaining car¬ 
tridge. 

Then they were upon me — or almost. I 
thought of my promise to Dian — the awful 
abyss was behind me — a big devil with a 
huge bludgeon in front of me. I grasped my 
six-shooter by the barrel and hurled it 
squarely in his face with all my strength. 

Then, without waiting to learn the effect 
of my throw, I wheeled, ran the few steps to 
the edge, and leaped as far out over that 
frightful chasm as I could. I know some¬ 
thing of diving, and all that I know I put 
into that dive, which I was positive would 
be my last. 

For a couple of hundred feet I fell in a 
horizontal position. The momentum I 




222 


PELLUCIDAR 


gained was terrific. I could feel the air almost 
as a solid body, so swiftly I hurtled through 
it. Then my position gradually changed to 
the vertical, and with hands outstretched 
I slipped through the air, cleaving it like a 
flying arrow. Just before I struck the water 
a perfect shower of javelins fell all about. 
My enemies had rushed to the brink and 
hurled their weapons after me. By a miracle 
I was untouched. 

In the final instant I saw that I had cleared 
the rocks and was going to strike the water 
fairly. Then I was in and plumbing the 
depths. I suppose I didn't really go very 
far down, but it seemed to me that I should 
never stop. When at last I dared curve my 
hands upward and divert my progress 
toward the surface, I thought that I should 
explode for air before I ever saw the sun 
again except through a swirl of water. But 
at last my head popped above the waves, and 
I filled my lungs with air. 

Before me was the boat, from which Juag 
and Dian were clambering. I couldn’t un¬ 
derstand why they were deserting it now, 




ESCAPE 


223 


when we were about to set out for the main¬ 
land in it; but when I reached its side I un¬ 
derstood. Two heavy javelins, missing Dian 
and Juag by but a hair’s breadth, had sunk 
deep into the bottom of the dugout in a 
straight line with the grain of the wood, and 
split her almost in two from stem to stern. 
She was useless. 

Juag was leaning over a near-by rock, his 
hand outstretched to aid me in clambering 
to his side; nor did I lose any time in avail¬ 
ing myself of his proffered assistance. An 
occasional javelin was still dropping peril¬ 
ously close to us, so we hastened to draw as 
close as possible to the cliffside, where we 
were comparatively safe from the missiles. 

Here we held a brief conference, in which 
it was decided that our only hope now lay in 
making for the opposite end of the island as 
quickly as we could, and utilizing the boat 
that I had hidden there to continue our jour¬ 
ney to the mainland. 

Gathering up three of the least damaged 
javelins that had fallen about us, we set out 
upon our journey, keeping well toward the 




224 


PELLUCIDAR 


south side of the island, which Juag said was 
less frequented by the Hoojans than the cen¬ 
tral portion where the river ran. I think 
that this ruse must have thrown our pursuers 
off our track, since we saw nothing of them 
nor heard any sound of pursuit during the 
greater portion of our march the length of 
the island. 

But the way juag had chosen was rough 
and roundabout, so that we consumed one or 
two more marches in covering the distance 
than if we had followed the river. This it 
was which proved our undoing. 

Those who sought us must have sent a 
party up the river immediately after we es¬ 
caped; for when we came at last onto the 
river-trail not far from our destination, there 
can be no doubt but that we were seen by 
Hoojans who were just ahead of us on the 
stream. The result was that as we were pass¬ 
ing through a clump of bush a score of war¬ 
riors leaped out upon us, and before we 
could scarce strike a blow in defense, had 
disarmed and bound us. 

For a time thereafter I seemed to be en- 




_E f 

tirely bereft of hope. I could see no ray oi 
promise in the future — only immediate 
death for Juag and me, which didn’t concern 
me much in the face of what lay in store for 

Dian. 

Poor child! What an awful life she had s 
led! From the moment that I had first seen 
her chained in the slave caravan of the 
Mahars until now, a prisoner of a no less 
cruel creature, I could recall but a few brief 
intervals of peace and quiet in her tempestu¬ 
ous existence. Before I had known her, 
Jubal the Ugly One had pursued her across 
a savage world to make her his mate. She 
had eluded him, and finally I had slain him; 
but terror and privations, and exposure to 
fierce beasts had haunted her footsteps dur¬ 
ing all her lonely flight from him. And when 
I had returned to the outer world the old 
trials had recommenced with Hooja in 
Jubal’s role. I could almost have wished 
for death to vouchsafe her that peace which 
fate seemed to deny her in this life. 

I spoke to her on the subject, suggesting 
that we expire together. 





PELLUCIDAR 


nwi icar, David,” she replied. “ I 
shall end my life before ever Hooja can harm 
me; but first I shall see that Hooja dies.” 

She drew from her breast a little leathern 
thong, to the end of which was fastened a 
tiny pouch. 

“What have you there?” I asked. 

“ Do you recall that time you stepped 
upon the thing you call viper in your 
world ?” she asked. 

I nodded. 

“ The accident gave you the idea for the 
poisoned arrows with which we fitted the 
warriors of the empire,” she continued. 
“ And, too, it gave me an idea. For a long 
time I have carried a viper’s fang in my 
bosom. It has given me strength to endure 
many dangers, for it has always assured me 
immunity from the ultimate insult. I am not 
ready to die yet. First let Hooja embrace 
the viper’s fang.” 

So we did not die together, and I am glad 
now that we did not. It is always a foolish 
thing to contemplate suicide; for no matter 
how dark the future may appear today, to- 






morrow may he 

our whole life in an instant, revealing iu us 
nothing but sunshine and happiness. So, for 
my part, I shall always wait for tomorrow. 

In Pellucidar, where it is always today, 
the wait may not be so long, and so it proved 
for us. As we were passing a lofty, flat- 
topped hill through a parklike wood a per¬ 
fect network of fiber ropes fell suddenly 
about our guard, enmeshing them. A 
moment later a horde of our friends, the 
hairy gorilla-men, with the mild eyes and 
long faces of sheep leaped among them. 

It was a very interesting fight. I was 
sorry that my bonds prevented me from tak¬ 
ing part in it, but I urged on the brute-men 
with my voice, and cheered old Gr-gr-gr, 
their chief, each time that his mighty jaws 
crunched out the life of a Hoojan. When the 
battle was over we found that a few of our 
captors had escaped, but the majority of 
them lay dead about us. The gorilla-men 
paid no further attention to them. Gr-gr-gr 
turned to me. 

“ Gr-gr-gr and all his people are your 




/ the warriors of 
the alv une ana lonowea them. He saw 

m/ 

them capture you, and then he flew to the 
village as fast as he could go and told me all 
that he had seen. The rest you know. You 
did much for Gr-gr-gr and Gr-gr-gr’s people. 
We shall always do much for you.” 

I thanked him; and when I had told him 
of our escape and our destination, he insisted 
on accompanying us to the sea with a great 
number of his fierce males. Nor were we at 
all loath to accept his escort. We found the 
canoe where I had hidden it, and bidding 
Gr-gr-gr and his warriors farewell, the three 
of us embarked for the mainland. 

I questioned Juag upon the feasibility of 
attempting to cross to the mouth of the 
great river of which he had told me, and up 
which he said we might paddle almost to 
Sari; but he urged me not to attempt it, since 
we had but a single paddle and no water or 
food. I had to admit the wisdom of his 
advice, but the desire to explore this great 
waterway was strong upon me, arousing in 
me at last a determination to make the 




ESCAPE 


229 


attempt after first gaining the mainland and 
rectifying our deficiencies. 

We landed several miles north of Thuria 
in a little cove that seemed to offer protec¬ 
tion from the heavier seas which sometimes 
run, even upon these usually pacific oceans 
of Pellucidar. Here I outlined to Dian and 
Juag the plans I had in mind. They were to 
fit the canoe with a small sail, the purposes 
of which I had to explain to them both — 
since neither had ever seen or heard of such 
a contrivance before. Then they were to 
hunt for food which we could transport with 
us, and prepare a receptacle for water. 

These two latter items were more in 
Juag’s line, but he kept muttering about the 
sail and the wind for a long time. I could 
see that he was not even half convinced that 
any such ridiculous contraption could make 
a canoe move through the water. 

We hunted near the coast for a while, but 
were not rewarded with any particular luck. 
Finally we decided to hide the canoe and 
strike inland in search of game. At Juag’s 
suggestion we dug a hole in the sand at the 





PELLUCIDAR 


upper edge of the beach and buried the craft, 
smoothing the surface over nicely and 
throwing aside the excess material we had 
excavated. Then we set out away from the 
sea. Traveling in Thuria is less arduous 
than under the midday sun which perpet¬ 
ually glares down on the rest of Pellucidar’s 
surface; but it has its drawbacks, one of 
which is the depressing influence exerted by 
the everlasting shade of the Land of Awful 
Shadow. 

The farther inland we went the darker it 
became, until we were moving at last 
through an endless twilight. The vegeta¬ 
tion here was sparse and of a weird, color¬ 
less nature, though what did grow was won¬ 
drous in shape and form. Often we saw 
huge lidi, or beasts of burden, striding 
across the dim landscape, browsing upon the 
grotesque vegetation or drinking from the 
slow and sullen rivers that run down from 
the Lidi Plains to empty into the sea in 
Thuria. 

What we sought was either thag — a sort 
of gigantic elk — or one of the larger species 






ESCAPE 


of antelope, the flesh of either of which dries 
nicely in the sun. The bladder of the thag 
would make a fine water-bottle, and its skin, 
I figured, would be a good sail. We traveled 
a considerable distance inland, entirely 
crossing the Land of Awful Shadow and 
emerging* at last upon that portion of the 
Lidi Plains which lies in the pleasant sun¬ 
light. Above us the pendent world revolved 
upon its axis, filling me especially — and 
Dian to an almost equal state — with wonder 

i 

and insatiable curiosity as to what strange 
forms of life existed among the hills and val¬ 
leys and along the seas and rivers, which we 
could plainly see. 

Before us stretched the horizonless 
expanses of vast Pellucidar, the Lidi Plains 
rolling up about us, while hanging high in 
the heavens to the northwest of us I thought 
I discerned the many towers which marked 
the entrances to the distant Mahar city, 
whose inhabitants preyed upon the Thu- 
rians. 

Juag suggested that we travel to the north¬ 
east, where, he said, upon the verge of the 








PELLUCID AR 


plain we would find a wooded country in 
which game should be plentiful. Acting 
upon his advice, we came at last to a forest- 
jungle, through which wound innumerable 
game-paths. In the depths of this forbid¬ 
ding wood we came upon the fresh spoor of 
thag. 

Shortly after, by careful stalking, we came 
within javelin-range of a small herd. Select¬ 
ing a great bull, Juag and I hurled our 
weapons simultaneously, Dian reserving 
hers for an emergency. The beast staggered 
to his feet, bellowing. The rest of the herd 
was up and away in an instant, only the 
wounded bull remaining, with lowered head 
and roving eyes searching for the foe. 

Then Juag exposed himself to the view of 
the bull — it is a part of the tactics of the 
hunt — while I stepped to one side behind a 
bush. The moment that the savage beast 
saw Juag he charged him. Juag ran straight 
away, that the bull might be lured past 
my hiding-place. On he came — tons of 
mighty bestial strength and rage. 

Dian had slipped behind me. She, too, 








ESCAPE 


233 


could fight a thag should emergency require. 
Ah, such a girl! A rightful empress of a 
stone age by every standard which two 
worlds might bring to measure her! 

Crashing down toward us came the bull 
thag, bellowing and snorting, with the power 
of a hundred outer-earthly bulls. When he 
was opposite me I sprang for the heavy mane 
that covered his huge neck. To tangle my 
fingers in it was the work of but an instant. 
Then I was running along at the beast’s 
shoulder. 

Now, the theory upon which this hunting 
custom is based is one long ago discovered 
by experience, and that is that a thag cannot 
be turned from his charge once he has 
started toward the object of his wrath, so 
long as he can still see the thing he charges. 
He evidently believes that the man clinging 
to his mane is attempting to restrain him 
from overtaking his prey, and so he pays no 
attention to this enemy, who, of course, does 
not retard the might} charge in the least. 

Once in the gait of the plunging bull, it 
was but a slight matter to vault to his back, 





234 


PELLUCIDAR 


as cavalrymen mount their chargers upon 
the run. Juag was still running in plain 
sight ahead of the bull. His speed was but 
a trifle less than that of the monster that 
pursued him. These Pellucidarians are 
almost as fleet as deer; because I am not is 
one reason that I am always chosen for the 
close-in work of the thag-hunt. I could not 
keep in front of a charging thag long 
enough to give the killer time to do his work. 
I learned that the first — and last — time I 
tried it. 

Once astride the bull’s neck, I drew my 
long stone knife and, setting the point care¬ 
fully over the brute's spine, drove it home 
with both hands. At the same instant I 
leaped clear of the stumbling animal. Now, 
no vertebrate can progress far with a knife 
through his spine, and the thag is no excep¬ 
tion to the rule. 

The fellow was down instantly. As he 
wallowed Juag returned, and the two of us 
leaped in when an opening afforded the 
opportunity and snatched our javelins from 
his side. Then we danced about him, more 





I drew my long knife and drove it home with both hands 

















ESCAPE 


235 


like two savages than an) thing else, until we 
got the opening we were looking for, when 
simultaneously, our javelins pierced his wild 
heart, stilling it forever. 

The thag had covered considerable ground 
from the point at which I had leaped upon 
him. When, after despatching him, I looked 
back for Dian, I could see nothing of her. I 
called aloud, but receiving no reply, set out 
at a brisk trot to where I had left her. I had 
no difficulty in finding the self-same bush 
behind which we had hidden, but Dian was 
not there. Again and again I called, to be 
rewarded only by silence. Where could she 
be? What could have become of her in the 
brief interval since I had seen her standing 
just behind me? 






1 


l XII 

:d ? 


I SEARCH the spot carefully. 

At last I \ *d by the discovery 

of her javelin, \ from the bush that 

had concealed le charging thag — 

her javelin and the I Lations of a struggle 

revealed by the trampled vegetation and 
% • # 
the overlapping footprints of a woman and a 

man. Filled with consternation and dismay, 
I followed these latter to where they sud¬ 
denly disappeared a hundred }7-ards from 
where the struggle had occurred. There I 
saw the huge imprints of a lidi’s feet. 

The story of the tragedy was all too plain. 
A Thurian had either been following us, or 
had accidentally espied Dian and taken a 
fancy to her. While Juag and I had been 
engaged with the thag, he had abducted her. 
I ran swiftly back to where Juag was work¬ 
ing over the kill. As I approached him I saw 
that something was wrong in this quarter as 
well, for the islanulr was standing upon the 
carcass of the thag, his javelin poised for a 

236 


KIDNAPED! 


£3/ 

KHMtMn 

throw. 

When I had come nearer I saw the cause 
of his belligerent attitude. Just beyond him 
stood two large jaloks, or wolf-dogs, regard¬ 
ing him intently — a male and a female. 
Their behavior was rather peculiar, for they 
did not seem preparing to charge him. 
Rather, they were contemplating him in an 
attitude of questioning. 

Juag heard me coming and turned toward 
me with a grin. These fellows love excite¬ 
ment. I could see by his expression that he 
was enjoying in anticipation the battle that 
seemed imminent. But he never hurled 
his javelin. A shout of warning from me 
stopped him, for I had seen the remnants of 
a rope dangling from the neck of the male 
jalok. 

Juag again turned toward me, but this 
time in surprise, i was abreast him in a 
moment and, pas ng him, walked straight 
toward the two leasts. As I did so the 
female crouched with bared fangs. The 
male, however, leaped forward to meet me, 
not in deadly chrrge, but with every expres- 







238 


PELLUCIDAR 


sion of delight and joy which the poor ani¬ 
mal could exhibit. 

It was Raja — the jalok whose life I had 
saved, and whom I then had tamed! There 
was no doubt that he was glad to see me. I 
now think that his seeming desertion of me 
had been but due to a desire to search out his 
ferocious mate and bring her, too, to live 
with me. 

When Juag saw me fondling the great 
beast he was filled with consternation, but I 
did not have much time to spare to Raja 
while my mind was filled with the grief of 
my new loss. I was glad to see the brute, 
and I lost no time in taking him to Juag and 
making him understand that Juag, too, was 
to be Raja’s friend. With the female the 
matter was more difficult, but Raja helped 
us out by growling savagely at her whenever 
she bared her fangs against us. 

I told Juag of the disappearance of Dian, 
and of my suspicions as to the explanation 
of the catastrophe. He wanted to start right 
out after her, but I suggested that with Raja 
to help me it might be as well were he to 







KIDNAPED! 


2: 


remain and skin the thag, remove its blad¬ 
der, and then return to where we had hidden 
the canoe on the beach. And so it was 
arranged that he was to do this and await 
me there for a reasonable time. I pointed 
to a great lake upon the surface of the pen¬ 
dent world above us, telling him that if after 
this lake had appeared four times I had not 
returned to go either by water or land to 
Sari and fetch Ghak with an army. Then, 
calling Raja after me, I set out after Dian 
and her abductor. First I took the wolf dog 
to the spot where the man had fought with 
Dian. A few paces behind us followed 
Raja’s fierce mate. I pointed to the ground 
where the evidences ci the struggle were 
plainest and where the scent must have been 
strong to Raja’s nostrils. 

Then I graspec the remnant of leash that 
hung about his heck and urged him forward 
upon the trail. He seemed to understand. 
With nose to ground he set out upon his 
task. Dragging me after him, he trotted 
straight 01 1 upon the Lidi Plains, turning 
his steps in the direction of the Thurian vil- 





240 


PELLUCIDAR 


lage. I could have guessed as much! 

Behind us trailed the female. After a 
while she closed upon us, until she ran quite 
close to me and at Raja’s side. It v/as not 
long before she seemed as easy in my com¬ 
pany as did her lord and master. 

We must have covered considerable dis¬ 
tance at a very rapid pace, for we had re-en¬ 
tered the great shadow, when we saw a huge 
Hdi ahead of us, moving leisurely across the 
level plain. Upon its back were two human 
figures. If I could have known that the 
jaloks would not harm Dian I might have 
turned them loose upon the lidi and its mas¬ 
ter; but I could not know, and so dared take 
no chances. 

However, the matter was taken out of my 
hands presently when Raja raised his head 
and caught sight of his quarry. With a 
lunge that hurled me fiat and jerked the 
leash from my hand, he was gone with the 
speed of the wind after the giant lidi and its 
riders. At his side raced his shaggy mate, 
only a trifle smaller than he and no whit less 
savage. 





KIDNAPED! 


241 


They did not give tongue until the lidi 
itself discovered them and broke into a lum¬ 
bering, awkward, but none the less rapid 
gallop. Then the two hound-beasts com¬ 
menced to bay, starting with a low, plaintive 
note that rose, weird and hideous, to termi¬ 
nate in a series of short, sharp yelps. I 
feared that it might be the hunting-call of 
the pack; and if this were true, there would 
be slight chance for either Dian or her 
abductor — or myself, either, as far as that 
was concerned. So I redoubled my efforts to 
keep pace with the hunt; but I might as well 
have attempted to distance the bird upon the 
wing; as I have often reminded you, I am no 
runner. In that instance it was just as well 
that I am not, for my very slowness of foot 
played into my hands; while had I been 
fleeter, I might have lost Dian that time for¬ 
ever. 

The lidi, with the hounds running close on 
either side, had almost dis appeared in the 
darkness that enveloped the surrounding 
landscape, when I noted th it it was bearing 
toward the right. This v as accounted for 







242 


PELLUCIDAR 


by the fact that Raja ran upon his left side, 
and unlike his mate, kept leaping for the 
great beast’s shoulder. The man on the lidi’s 
back was prodding at the hyaenodon with 
his long spear, but still Raja kept springing 
up and snapping. 

The effect of this was to turn the lidi 
toward the right, and the longer I watched 
the procedure the more convinced I became 
that Raja and his mate were working 
together with some end in view, for the she- 
dog merely galloped steadily at the lidi’s 
right about opposite his rump. 

I had seen jaloks hunting in packs, and I 
recalled now what for the time I had not 
thought of — the several that ran ahead and 
turned the quarry back toward the main 
body. This was precisely what Raja and his 
mate were doing—they were turning the 
lidi back toward me, or at least Raja was. 
Just why the female was keeping out of it I 
did not understand, unless it was that she 
was not entirely clear in her own mind as to 
precisely what her mate was attempting. 

At any rate, I was sufficiently convinced 




KIDNAPED! 


243 


to stop where I was and await developments, 
for I could readily realize two things. One 
was that I could never overhaul them before 
the damage was done if they should pull the 
lidi down now. The other thing was that if 
they did not pull it down for a few minutes 
it would have completed its circle and 
returned close to where I stood. 

And this is just what happened. The lot 
of them were almost swallowed up in the 
twilight for a moment. Then they reap¬ 
peared again, but this time far to the right 
and circling back in my general direction. I 
waited until I could get some clear idea of 
the right spot to gain that I might intercept 
the lidi; but even as I waited I saw the beast 
attempt to turn still more to the right — a 
move that would have carried him far to my 
left in a much more circumscribed circle 
than the hyaenodons had mapped out for 
him. Then I saw the female leap forward 
and head him; and when he would have gone 
too far to the left, Raja sprang, snapping, at 
his shoulder and held him straight. 

Straight for me the two savage beasts 




244 


PELLUCIDAR 


were driving their quarry! It was wonder¬ 
ful. 

It was something else, too, as I realized 
while the monstrous beast neared me. It 
was like standing in the middle of the tracks 
in front of an approaching express-train. 
But I didn’t dare waver ; too much depended 
upon my meeting that hurtling mass of ter¬ 
rified flesh with a well-placed javelin. So I 
stood there, waiting to be run down and 
crushed by those gigantic feet, but deter¬ 
mined to drive home my weapon in the 
broad breast before I fell. 

The lidi was only about a hundred yards 
from me when Raja gave a few barks in a 
tone that differed materially from his hunt¬ 
ing-cry. Instantly both he and his mate 
leaped for the long neck of the ruminant. 

Neither missed. Swinging in mid-air, 
they hung tenaciously, their weight drag¬ 
ging down the creature’s head and so retard¬ 
ing its speed that before it had reached me it 
was almost stopped and devoting all its ener¬ 
gies to attempting to scrape oil its attackers 
with its forefeet. \ 




KIDNAPED! 


245 


Dian had seen and recognized me, and was 
trying to extricate herself from the grasp of 
her captor, who, handicapped by his strong 
and agile prisoner, was unable to wield his 
lance effectively upon the two jaloks. At the 
same time I was running swiftly toward 
them. 

When the man discovered me he released 
his hold upon Dian and sprang to the 
ground, ready with his lance to meet me. My 
javelin was no match for his longer weapon, 
which was used more for stabbing than as a 
missile. Should I miss him at my first cast, 
as was quite probable, since he was prepared 
for me, I would have to face his formidable 
lance with nothing more than a $ tone knife. 
The outlook was scarcely entrancing. Evi¬ 
dently f was soon to be absolutely at his 
mercy. 

Seeing rny predicament, he r* n toward me 
to get rid of one antagonist before he had to 
deal with the other two. He c ould not guess, 
of course, tha; the two jaloks were hunting 
w T ith me ; but he doubtless thought that after 
they had finished the lid' they would make 







246 


PELLUCIDAR 


after the human prey — the beasts are noto¬ 
rious killers, often slaying wantonly. 

But as the Thurian came Raja loosened 
his hold upon the lidi and dashed for him, 
with the female close after. When the man 
saw them he yelled to me to help him, pro¬ 
testing that we should both be killed if we 
did not fight together. But I only laughed 
at him and ran toward Dian. 

Both the fierce beasts were upon the Thu¬ 
rian simultaneously — he must have died 
almost before his body tumbled to the 
ground. Then the female wheeled toward 
Dian. I was standing by her side as the 
thing charged her, my javelin ready to 
receive her. 

But again Raja was too quick for me. I 
imagined he thought she was making for me, 
for he couldn’t have known anything of my 
relations toward Dian. At any rate he 
leaped full upon her back and dragged her 
down. There ensued forthwith as terrible 
a battle as one would wish to see if battles 
were gaged by volume of noise and riotous¬ 
ness of action. I thought that both the 






KIDNAPED! 


dm 


247 


beasts would be torn to shreds. 

When finally the female ceased to strug¬ 
gle and rolled over on her back, her fore¬ 
paws limply folded, I was sure that she was 
dead. Raja stood over her, growling, his 
jaws close to her throat. Then I saw that 
neither of them bore a scratch. The male 
had simply administered a severe drubbing 
to his mate. It was his way of teaching her 
that I was sacred. 

After a moment he moved away and let 
her rise, when she set about smoothing down 
her rumpled coat, while he came stalking 
toward Dian and me. I had an arm about 
Dian now. As Raja came close I caught him 
by the neck and pulled him up to me. There 
I stroked him and talked to him, bidding 
Dian do'tie same, until I think he pretty 
well understc od that if I was his friend, so 
was Dian. 

For a long time he was inclined to be shy 
of her, often baring his teeth at her approach, 
and : t was a much longer time before the 
fewaU made friends with us. But by care¬ 
ful Vlnhness, by never eating without shar- 







248 


PELLUCIDAR 


ing our meat with them, and by feeding them 
from our hands, we finally won the confi¬ 
dence of both animals. However, that was 
a long time after. 

With the tw r o beasts trotting after us, we 
returned to where we had left Juag. Here 
I had the dickens’ own time keeping the 
female from Juag’s throat. Of all the ven¬ 
omous, wicked, cruel-hearted beasts on two 
worlds, I think a female hyaenodon takes the 
palm. 

But eventually she tolerated Juag as she 
had Dian and me, and the five of us set out 
toward the coast, for Juag had just com¬ 
pleted his labors on the thag when we 
arrived. We ate some of the meat before 
starting, and gave the hounds some. All that 
we could we carried upon our backs. 

On the way to the canoe we met with no 
mishaps. Dian told me that the fellow who 
had stolen her had come upon her from 
behind while the roaring of the thag had 
drowned all other noises, and that the first 
she had known he had disarmed her and 
thrown her to the back of his lidi, which had 




KIDNAPED! 


249 


been lying down close by waiting for him. 
By the time the thag had ceased bellowing 
the fellow had got well away upon his swift 
mount. By holding one palm over her 
mouth he had prevented her calling for help. 

“I thought,” she concluded, “that I 
should have to use the viper’s tooth, after 
all” 

We reached the beach at last and 
unearthed the canoe. Then we busied our¬ 
selves stepping a mast and rigging a small 
sail — Juag and I, that is — while Dian cut 
the thag meat into long strips for drying 
when we should be out in the sunlight once 
more. 

At last all was done. We were ready to 
embark. I had no difficulty in getting Raja 
aboard the dugout; but Ranee — as we 
christened her after I had explained to Dian 
the meaning of Raja and its feminine equiva¬ 
lent— positively refused for a time to follow 
her mate aboard. In fact, we had to shove 

f 

off without her. After a moment, however, 
she plunged into the water and swam after 
us. 




PELLUCIDAR 


I let her come alongside, and then Juag 
and I pulled her in, she snapping and snarl¬ 
ing at us as we did so; but, strange to relate, 
she didn't offer to attack us after we had 
ensconced her safely in the bottom alongside 
Raja. 

The canoe behaved much better under sail 
than I had hoped — infinitely better than the 
battle-ship Sari had — and we made good 
progress almost due west across the gulf, 
upon the opposite side of which I hoped to 
find the mouth of the river of which Juag 
had told me. 

The islander was much interested and 
impressed by the sail and its results. He 
had not been able' to understand exactly 
what I hoped to accomplish with it while we 
were fitting up the boat; but when he saw 
the clumsy dugout move steadily through 
the water without paddles, he was as 
delighted as a child. We made splendid 
headway on the trio, coming into sight of 
land at last. 

Juag had been terror-stricken when he 
had learned that I intended crossing the 

V j 







KIDNAPED! 


251 


ocean, and when we passed out of sight of 
land he was in a blue funk. He said that he 
had never heard of such a thing before in his 
life, and that always he had understood that 
those who ventured far from land never 
returned; for how could they find their way 
when they could see no land to steer for? 

I tried to explain the compass to him; and 
though he never really grasped the scien¬ 
tific explanation of it, yet he did learn to 
steer by it quite as well as I. We passed sev¬ 
eral islands on the journey — islands which 
Juag told me were entirely unknown to his 
own island folk. Indeed, our eyes may have 
been the first ever to rest upon them. I 
should have liked to stop off and explore 
them, but the business of empire would 
brook no unnecessary delays. 

I asked Juag how Hooja expected to reach 
the mouth of the river which we were in 
search of if he didn’t cross the gulf, and the 
islander explained that Hooja would 
und( ubtedly follow the coast around. For 
some time we sailed up t ie coast searching 
for the river, and at hut we found it. So 






252_ PELLUCIDAR _ 

great was it that I thought it must be a 
mighty gulf until the mass of driftwood that 
came out upon the first ebb tide convinced 
me that it was the mouth of a river. There 
were the trunks of trees uprooted by the 
undermining of the river banks, giant 
creepers, flowers, grasses, and now and then 
the body of some land animal or bird. 

I was all excitement to commence our 

upward journey when there occurred that 

which I had never before seen within Pellu- 

cidar — a really terrific wind-storm. It blew 

down the river upon us with a ferocity and 

suddenness that took our breaths away, and 

• 

before we could get a chance to make the 
shore it became too late. The best that we 
could do was to hold the scudding craft 
before the wind and race along in a smother 
of white spume. Juag was terrified. If 
Dian was, she hid it; for was she not the 
daughter of a once great chief, the sister of a 
king, and the mate of an emperor? 

Raja and Ranee were frightened. The 
former crawled close to my side and buried 
his nose against me. Finally even fierce 





253 


KIDNAP] 

Ranee was moved to see y from a 

human being. She slun pressing 

close against her and g, while 

Dian stroked her shaggy talked to 

her as I talked to Raja. 

There was nothing for us to do but try 
to keep the canoe right side up and straight 
before the wind. For what seemed an 
eternity the tempest neither increased nor 
abated. I judged that we must have blown 
a hundred miles before the wind and straight 
out into an unknown sea! 

As suddenly as the wind rose it died again, 
and when it died it veered to blow at right 
angles to its former course in a gentle 
breeze. I asked Juag then what our course 
was, for he had had the compass last. It had 
been on a leather thong about his neck. 
When he felt for it, the expression that came 
into his eyes told me as plainly as words 
what had happened — the compass was lost! 
The compass was lost! 

And we were out of sight of land without 
a single celestial body to guide us! Even 
the pendent world was not visible from our 






254 PELLUCIDAR _ 

position! 

Our plight seemed hopeless to me, but I 
dared not let Dian and Juag guess how 
utterly dismayed I was; though, as I soon 
discovered, there was nothing to be gained 
by trying to keep the worst from Juag — he 
knew it quite as well as I. He had always 
known, from the legends of his people, the 
dangers of the open sea beyond the sight of 
land. The compass, since he had learned its 
uses from me, had been all that he had to 
buoy his hope of eventual salvation from the 
watery deep. He had seen how it had guided 
me across the water to the very coast that I 
desired to reach, and so he had implicit con¬ 
fidence in it. Now that it was gone, his con¬ 
fidence had departed, also. 

There seemed but one thing to do; that 
was to keep on sailing straight before the 
wind — since we could travel most rapidly 
along that course — until we sighted land of 
some description. If it chanced to be the 
mainland, well and good; if an island — well, 
we might live upon an island. We cer¬ 
tainly could not live long in this little 







KIDNAPED! 


255 


boat, with only a few strips of dried thag 
and a few quarts of water left. 

Quite suddenly a thought occurred to me. 
I was surprised that it had not come before 
as a solution to our problem. I turned 
toward Juag. 

“You Pellucidarians are endowed with a 
wonderful instinct,” I reminded him, “ an 
instinct that points the way straight to your 
homes,.no matter in what strange land you 
may find yourself. Now all we have to do 
is let Dian guide us toward Amoz, and we 
shall come in a short time to the same coast 
whence we just were blown.” 

As I spoke I looked at them with a smile 
of renewed hope; but there w s no answer¬ 
ing smile in their eyes. It was Dian who 
enlightened me. 

“We could do all this upon land/' she 
said. “But upon the water that power is 
denied us. I do not know why; but I have 
alwavs heard that this is true—-that only 
upon the water may s Pellucidarian be lost. 
This is, I think, why we all fear the .great- 
ocean so — even those who go upon its sur- 





256 


PELLUCIDAR 


face in canoes. Juag has told us that they 
never go beyond the sight of land.” 

We had lowered the sail after the blow 
while we were discussing the best course to 
pursue. Our little craft had been drifting 
idly, rising and falling with the great waves 
that were now diminishing. Sometimes we 
were upon the crest — again in the hollow. 
As Dian ceased speaking she let her eyes 
range across the limitless expanse of billow¬ 
ing waters. We rose to a great height upon 
the crest of a mighty wave. As we topped it 
Dian gave an exclamation and pointed 
astern. 

''Boats!” she cried. "Boats! Many, 
many boats!” 

Juag and I leaped to our feet; but our little 
craft had now dropped to the trough, and we 
could see nothing but walls of water close 
upon either hand. We waited for the next 
wave to lift us, and when it did we strained 
our eves in the direction that Dian h^d indi- 
cated. Sure enough, scarce half a mile away 
were several boats, and scattered far and 
wide behind us as far as we could see were 




KIDNAPED! 


257 


many others! We could not make them out 
in the distance or in the brief glimpse that 
we caught of them before we were plunged 
again into the next wave canon; but they 
were boats. 

And in them must be human beings like 
ourselves. 




CHAPTER XIII 

RACING FOR LIFE 


A T LAST the sea subsided, and we were 
±\. able to get a better view of the armada 
of small boats in our wake. There must 
have been two hundred of them. Juag said 
that he had never seen so many boats before 
in all his life. Where had they come from? 
juag was first to hazard a guess. 

“Hooja,” he said, “was building many 
boats to carry his warriors to the great river 
and up it toward Sari. He was building 
them with almost all his warriors and many 
slaves upon the Island of Trees. No one 
else in all the history of Pellucidar has ever 
built so many boats as they told me Hooja 
was building. These must be Hooja’s 
boats/’ 

“And they were blown out to sea by the 
great storm just as we were,” suggested 
Dian. 

“There can be no better explanation of 
them,” I agreed. 

“What shall we do?” asked Tuag. 

258 


RACING FOR LIFE 


259 


“ Suppose we make sure that they are 
really Hooja’s people,” suggested Dian. “It 
may be that they are not, and that if we run 
away from them before we learn definitely 
who they are, we shall be running away 
from a chance to live and find the mainland. 
They may be a people of whom we have 
never even heard, and if so we can ask them 
to help us — if they know the way to the 
mainland;” 

“ Which they will not,” interposed Juag. 

“ Well, 5 ’ I said, “it can’t make our predica¬ 
ment any more trying to wait until we find 
out who they are. They are heading for us 
now. Evidently they have spied our sail, 
and guess that we do not belong to their 
fleet.” 

“ They probably want to ask the way to 
the mainland themselves,” said Juag, who 
was nothing if not a pessimist. 

“ If they want to catch us, they can do it 
if they can paddle faster than we can sail,” 
I said. “If we let them come close enough 
to discover their identity, and can then sail 
faster than they can paddle, we can get away 





260 


PELLUCIDAR 


from them anyway, so we might as well 
wait.” 

And wait we did. 

The sea calmed rapidly, so that by the 
time the foremost canoe had come within 
five hundred yards of us we could see them 
all plainly. Every one was headed for us. 
The dugouts, which were of unusual length, 
were manned by twenty paddlers, ten to a 
side. Besides the paddlers there were twen¬ 
ty-five or more warriors in each boat. 

When the leader was a hundred yards 
from us Dian called our attention to the fact 
that several of her crew were Sagoths. That 
convinced us that the flotilla was indeed 
Hooja’s. I told Juag to hail them and get 
what information he could, while I remained 
in the bottom of our canoe as much out of 
sight as possible. Dian lay down at full 
length in the bottom; I did not want them 
to see and recognize her if they were in 
truth Hooja’s people. 

“Who are you?” shouted Juag, standing 
up in the boat and making a megaphone of 
his palms. 





RACING FOR LIFE 


261 


A figure arose in the bow of the leading 
canoe — a figure that I was sure I recog¬ 
nized even before he spoke. 

“I am Hooja!” cried the man, in answer 
to Juag. 

For some reason he did not recognize his 
former prisoner and slave — possibly because 
he had so many of them. 

.“I come from the Island of Trees,” he 
continued. “A hundred of my boats were 
lost in the great storm and all their crews 
drowned. Where is the land? What are 
you, and what strange thing is that which 
flutters from the little tree in the front of 
your canoe?” 

He referred to our sail, flapping idly in the 
wind. 

“We, too, are lost,” replied Juag. “We 
know not where the land is. We are going 
back to look for it now.” 

So saying he commenced to scull the 
canoe’s nose before the wind, while I made 
fast the primitive sheets that held our crude 
sail. We thought it time to be going. 

There wasn’t much wind at the time, and 




262 


PELLUCIDAR 


the heavy, lumbering clugout was slow in 
getting under way. I thought it never 
would gain any momentum. And all the 
while Hooja’s canoe was drawing rapidly 
nearer, propelled by the strong arms of his 
twenty paddiers. Of course, their dugout 
was much larger than ours, and, conse¬ 
quently, infinitely heavier and more cumber¬ 
some; nevertheless, it was coming along at 
quite a clip, and ours was yet but barely 
moving. Dian and I remained out of sight 
as much as possible, for the two craft were 
now well within bow-shot of one another, 
and I knew that Hooja had archers. 

Hooja called to Juag to stop when he saw 
that our craft was moving. He was much 
interested in the sail, and not a little awed, 
as I could tell by his shouted remarks and 
questions. Raising my head, I saw him 
plainly. He would have made an excellent 
target for one of my guns, and I had never 
been sorrier that I had lost them. 

We were now picking up speed a trifle, 
and he was not gaining upon us so fast as at 
first. In consequence, his requests that we 





_ RACING F ( 

stop suddenly changed to commands as he 
became aware that we were trying to escape 
him. 

“Come back!'’ he shouted. “ Come back, 
or I'll fire!” 

I use the word fire because it more nearly 

* 

translates into English the Pellucidarian 
word trag, which covers the launching of 
any deadly missile. 

But Juag only seized his paddle more 
tightly — the paddle that answered the pur¬ 
pose of rudder, and commenced to assist the 
wind by vigorous strokes. Then Hooja 
gave the command to some of his archers 
to fire upon us. I couldn’t lie hidden in the 
bottom of the boat, leaving 'uag alone 
exposed to the deadly shafts, so i arose and, 
seizing another paddle, set to work to help 
him. Dian joined me, though I did my best 
to persuade her to remain sheltered; but 
being a woman, she must have her own 
way. 

The instant that Hooja saw us he recog¬ 
nized us. The whoop of triumph he raised 
indicated hew certain he was that we were 




’ELLUCIDAR 


,264 

about to fall into his hands. A shower of ar¬ 
rows fell about us. Then Hooja caused his 
men to cease firing — he wanted us alive. 
None of the missiles struck us, for Hooja’s 
archers were not nearly the marksmen that 
are my Sarians and Amozites. 

We had now gained sufficient headway to 
hold our own on about even terms with 
Hooja’s paddlers. We did not seem to be 
gaining, though; and neither did they. How 
long this nerve-racking experience lasted I 
cannot guess, though we had pretty nearly 
finished our meager supply of provisions 
when the wind picked up a bit and we com¬ 
menced to draw away. 

Not once yet had we sighted land, nor 
could I understand it, since so many of the 
seas I had seen before were thickly dotted 
with islands. Our plight was anything but 
pleasant, yet I think that Hooja and his 
forces were even worse off than we, for they 
had no food nor water at all. 

Far out behind us in a long line that curved 
upward in the distance, to be lost in the haze, 
strung Hooja’s two hundred boats. But one 




265 


«G FOR LIFE 

would Lave been enough to have taken us 
could it have come alongside. We had 
drawn some fifty yards ahead of Hooja— 
there had been times when we were scarce 
ten yards in advance — and were feeling con¬ 
siderably safer from capture. Hooja’s men, 
working in relays, were commencing to 
show the effects of the strain under which 
they had been forced to work without food 
or water, and I think their weakening aided 
us almost as much as the slight freshening 
of the wind. 

Hooja must have commenced to realize 
that he was going to lose us, for he again 
gave orders that we be fired upon. Volley 
after volley of arrows struck about us. The 
distance was so great by this time that most 
of the arrows fell short, while those that 
reached us were sufficiently spent to allow 
us to ward them off with our paddles. How¬ 
ever, it was a most exciting ordeal. 

Hooja stood in the bov< of his boat, alter¬ 
nately urging his men to greater speed and 
shouting epithets at me. But we continued 
to draw away from him. At last the wind 






266 


PELLUCID AR 


rose to a £air gale, and we simply raced away 
from our pursuers as if they were standing 
still. Juag was so tickled that he forgot all 
about his hunger and thirst. I think that 
he had never been entirely reconciled to the 
heathenish invention which I called a sail, 
and that down in the bottom of his heart he 
believed that the paddlers would eventually 
overhaul us; but now he couldn’t praise it 
enough. 

We had a strong gale for a considerable 
time, and eventually dropped Kooja’s fleet 
so far astern that we could no longer discern 
them. And then — ah, I shall never forget 
that moment — Dian sprang to her feet with 
a cry of “ Land! ” 

Sure enough, dead ahead, a long, low coast 
stretched across our bow. It was still a long 
way off, and we couldn’t make out whether 
it was island or mainland; but at least it was 
land. If ever shipwrecked mariners were 
grateful, we were then. Raia and Ranee 
were commencing to suffer for lack of food, 
and I could swear thatAke latter ;>ften cast 

> C> 

hungry glances upon us. though I am equally 






■"> .1 


lNG for life 


267 


sure xxw ot*^h hideous thoughts ever en¬ 

tered the head of her mate. We watched 
them both most closely, however. Once 
while stroking Ranee I managed to get a 
rope around her neck and make her fast to 
the side of the boat. Then I felt a bit safer 
for Dian. It was pretty close quarters in 
that little dugout for three human beings and 
two practically wild, man-eating dogs; but 
we had to make the best of it, since I would 
not listen to Juag's suggestion that we kill 
and eat Raja and Ranee. 

We made good time to within a few miles 
of the shore. Then the wind died suddenly 
out. We were all of us keyed up to such a 
pitch of anticipation that the blow was 
doubly hard to bear. And it was a blow, too. 
since we could not tell in what quarter the 
wind might rise again; but Tuag and I set to 
work to paddle the remaining distance. 

Almost immediately the wind rose again 
from precisely the opposite direction from 
which it had formerly blown, so that it was 
mighty hard work making progress against 
it. Next it veered «. ain so that we had to 






268 


PELLUCID AR 


turn and run with it parallel to the coast 
to keep from being swamped in the trough 
of the seas. 

And while we were suffering all these dis¬ 
appointments Hooja’s fleet appeared in the 
distance! 

They evidently had gone far to the left 
of our course, for they were now almost be¬ 
hind us as we ran parallel to the coast; but 
we were not much afraid of being overtaken 
in the wind that was blowing. The gale kept 
on increasing, but it was fitful, swooping 
down upon us in great gusts and then going 
almost calm for an instant. It was after one 
of these momentary calms that the catas¬ 
trophe occurred. Our sail hung limp and 
our momentum decreased when of a sudden 
a particularly vicious squall caught us. Be¬ 
fore I could cut the sheets the mast had 
snapped at the thwart in which it was 
stepped. 

The worst had happened; Juag and I 
seized paddles and kept the canoe with the 
wind; but that squall was the parting shot 
of the gale, which died out immediately 





RACING FOR LIFE 


269 


after, leaving us free to make for the shore, 
which we lost no time in attempting. But 
Hooja had drawn closer in toward shore than 
we, so it looked as if he might head us off 
before we could land. However, we did our 
best to distance him, Dian taking a paddle 
with us. 

We were in a fair way to succeed when 
there appeared, pouring from among the 
trees beyond the beach, a horde of yelling, 
painted savages, brandishing all sorts of 
devilish-looking primitive weapons. So 
menacing was their attitude that we realized 
at once the folly of attempting to land among 
them. 

Hooja was drawing closer to us There 
was no wind. We could not hope t outpad- 
dle him. And with our sail gone, no wind 
w r ould help us, though, as if in derision at 
offi plight, a steady breeze was nc V v blowing. 
But we had no intention of sitting idle while 
our fate overtook us, so we bent to our 
paddles and, keeping parallel with the coast, 
did our best to pull away from our pur¬ 


suers. 










270 


PELLUCIDAR 


It was a grueling experience. We were 
weakened by .lack of food. We were 
suffering the pangs of thirst. Capture and 
death were close at hand. Yet I think that 
we gave a good account of ourselves in our 
final effort to escape. Our boat was so much 
smaller and lighter than any of Hooja’s that 
the three of us forced it ahead almost as rap¬ 
idly as his larger craft could go under their 
twenty paddles. 

As we raced along the coast for one of 
those seemingly interminable periods that 
may draw hours into eternities where the 
labor is soul-searing and there is no way to 
measure time, I saw what I took for the 
opening to a bay or the mouth of a great 
river a short distance ahead of us. I wished 
that we might make for it; but with the 
menace of Hooja close behind and the 
screaming natives who raced along the shore 
parallel to us, I dared not attempt it. 

We were not far from shore in that mad 
flight from death. Even as I paddled I found 
opportunity to glance occasionally toward 
the natives. They were white, but hideously 








RACING FOR LIFE 


271 


painted. From their gestures and weapons 
I took them to be a most ferocious race. I 
was rather glad that we had not succeeded 
in landing among them. 

Hooja's fleet had been in much more com¬ 
pact formation when we sighted them this 
time than on the occasion following the 
tempest. Now they were moving rapidly in 
pursuit of us, all well within the radius of a 
mile. Five of them were leading, all abreast, 
and were scarce two hundred yards from us.' 
When I glanced over my shoulder I could 
see that the archers had already fitted ar¬ 
rows to their bows in readiness to fire upon 
us the moment that they should draw within 
range. 

Hope was low in my breast. I could not 
see the slightest chance of escaping them, for 
they were overhauling us rapidly now, since 
they were able to work their paddles in re¬ 
lays, while we three were rapidly wearying 
beneath the constant strain that had been 
put upon us. 

It was then that Tuag called my attention 
to the rift in the shore-line which I had 






PELLUCIDA 


? 7 ? 

thought either a bay or the 
river. There I saw movir 
the sea that which fille 
wonder. 


. great 
:it into 
1 with 






CHAPTER XIV 

GORE AND DREAMS 

I T WAS a two-masted felucca with lateen 
sails! The craft was long and low. In it 
were more than fifty men, twenty or thirty 
of whom were at oars with which the craft 
was being propelled from the lee of the land. 
I was dumbfounded. 

Could it be that the savage, painted 
natives I had seen on shore had so perfected 
the art of navigation that they were masters 
of such advanced building and rigging as this 
craft proclaimed? It seemed impossible! 
And as I looked I saw another of the same 
type'swing into view and follow its sister 
through the narrow strait out into *he ocean. 

Nor were these all. One after another, 
following closely upon one another’s heels, 
came fifty of the trim, graceful vessels. They 
were cutting in between Plooja’s fleet and 
our little dugout. 

When they came a bit closer my eyes fairly 
popped from head at what I saw, for in the 
eye of the leading felucca stood a man with 

273 


274 


PELLUCID AR 


a sea-glass leveled upon us. Who could they 
be? Was there a civilization within Pellu- 
cidar of such wondrous advancement as this? 
Were there far-distant lands of which none 
of my people had ever heard, where a race 
had so greatly outstripped all other races of 
this inner world? 

The man with the glass had lowered it and 
was shouting to us. I could not make out his 
words, but presently I saw that he was 
pointing aloft. When I looked I saw r a pen¬ 
nant fluttering from the peak of the forward 
lateen yard — a red, white, and blue pennant, 
with a single great white star in a field of 
blue. 

Then I knew. My eyes went even wider 
than they had before. It was the navy! It 
was the navy of the empire of Pellucidar 
which I had instructed Perry to build in my 
absence. It was my navy! 

I dropped my paddle and stood up and 
shouted and waved my hand. Juag and Dian 
looked at me as if 1 had gone suddenly mad. 
When I could stop shouting I told them, and 
they shared my joy and shouted with me. 




GORE AND DREAMS 


275 


But still Hooja was coming nearer, nor 
could the leading felucca overhaul him be¬ 
fore he would be alongside or at least within 
bow-shot. 

Hooja must have been as much mystified 
as we were as to the identity of the strange 
fleet; but when he saw me waving to them he 
evidently guessed that they were friendly to 
us, so he urged his men to redouble their ef¬ 
forts to reach us before the felucca cut him 
off. 

He shouted word back to others of his 
fleet — word that was passed back until it 
had reached them all — directing them to 
run alongside the strangers and board them, 
for with his two hundred craft and his eight 
or ten thousand warriors he evidently felt 
equal to overcoming the fifty vessels of the 
enemy, which did not seem to carry over 
three thousand men all told. 

His ov/n personal energies he bent to 
reaching Dian and me first leaving the rest 
of the work to his other boats. I thought 
that there could be little doubt that he would 
be successful in so far as we were concerned, 





276 


PELLUCIDAR 


and I feared for the revenge that he might 
take upon us should the battle go against his 
force, as I was sure it would; for I knew that 
Perry and his Mezops must have brought 
with them all the arms and ammunition that 
had been contained in the prospector. But I 
was not prepared for what happened next. 

As Hooja’s canoe reached a point some 
twenty yards from us a great puff of smoke 
broke from the bow of the leading felucca, 
followed almost simultaneously by a terrific 
explosion, and a solid shot screamed close 
over the heads of the men in Hooja’s craft, 
raising a great splash where it clove the 
water just beyond them. 

Perry had perfected gunpowder and built 
cannon! It was marvelous! Dian and Juag, 
as much surprised as Hooja, turned wonder¬ 
ing eyes toward me. Again the cannon 
spoke. I suppose that by comparison with 
the great guns of modern naval vessels of 
the outer world it was a pitifully small and 
inadequate thing; but here in Pellucidar, 
where it was the first of its kind, it was about 
as awe-inspiring as anything you might 




GORE AND DREAMS 


277 


imagine. 

With the report an iron cannon-ball about 
five inches in diameter struck Hooja’s dugout 
just above the water-line, tore a great splin¬ 
tering hole in its side, turned it over, and 
dumped its occupants into the sea. 

The four dugouts that had been abreast 
of Hooja had turned to intercept the leading 
felucca. Even now, in the face of what must 
have been a withering catastrophe to them, 
they kept bravely on toward the strange and 
terrible craft. 

In them were fully two hundred men, 
while but fifty lined the gunwale of the 
felucca to repel them. The commander of 
the felucca, who proved to be Ja, let them 
come quite close and then turned loose upon 
them a volley of shots from small-arms. 

The cave men and Sagoths in the dugouts 
seemed to wither before that blast of death 
like dry grass before a prairie fire. Those 
who were not hit dropped their bows and 
javelins and, seizing upon paddles, attempted 
to escape. But the felucca pursued them re¬ 
lentlessly, her crew firing at will. 





278 


PELLUCID AR 


At last I heard Ja shouting to the sur¬ 
vivors in the dugouts — they were all quite 
close to us now — offering them their lives 
if they would surrender. Perry was stand¬ 
ing close behind Ja, and I knew that this mer¬ 
ciful action was prompted, perhaps com¬ 
manded, by the old man; for no Pellucidarian 
would have thought of showing leniency to 
a defeated foe. 

As there was no alternative save death, the 
survivors surrendered and a moment later 
were taken aboard the Amoz, the name that 
I could now see printed in large letters upon 
the felucca’s bow, and which no one in that 
whole world could read except Perry and I. 

When the prisoners were aboard, Ja 
brought the felucca alongside our dugout. 
Many were the willing hands that reached 
down to lift us to her decks. The bronze 
faces of the Mezops were broad with smiles, 
and Perry was fairly beside himself with joy. 

Dian went aboard first and then Juag, as 
I wished to help Raja and Ranee aboard my¬ 
self, well knowing that it would fare ill with 
any Mezop who touched them. .We got them 






GORE AND DREAMS 


279 

aboard at last, and a great commotion they 
caused among the crew, who had never seen 
a wild beast thus handled by man before. 

Perry and Dian and I were so full of ques¬ 
tions that we fairly burst, but we had to con¬ 
tain ourselves for a while, since the battle 
with the rest of Hooja’s fleet had scarce com¬ 
menced. From the small forward decks of 
the feluccas Perry’s crude cannon were 
belching smoke, flame, thunder, and death. 
The air trembled to the roar of them. 
Hooja’s horde, intrepid, savage fighters that 
they were, were closing in to grapple in a 
last death-struggle with the Mezops who 
manned our vessels. 

The handling of our fleet b} r the red island 
warriors of Ja’s clan was far from perfect. 
I could see that Perry had lost no time after 
the completion of the boats in setting out 
upon t.hls cruise. What little the captains 
and crews had learned of handling feluccas 
they must have learned principally since they 
embarked upon this voyage, a id while expe¬ 
rience is avi excellent teacher and had done 
much for them, they still had a great deal 








280 


PELLUCIDAR 


to learn. In maneuvering for position they 
were continually fouling one another, and on 
two occasions shots from our batteries came 
near to striking our own ships. 

No sooner, however, was I aboard the flag¬ 
ship than I attempted to rectify this trouble 
to some extent. By passing commands by 
word of mouth from one ship to another I 
managed to get the fifty feluccas into some 
sort of line, with the flag-ship in the lead. 
In this formation we commenced slowly to 
circle the position of the enemy. The dug- 
outs came for us right along in an attempt to 
board us, but by keeping on the move in one 
direction and circling, we managed to avoid 
getting in each other’s way, and were 
enabled to fire our cannon and our small 
arms with less danger to our own comrades. 

When I had a moment to look about me, I 
took in the felucca on which I was. I am 
free to confess that I marveled at the excel¬ 
lent construction and stanch yet speedy lines 
of the little craft. That Perry had chosen 
this type of vessel seemed rather remarkable, 
for though I had warned him against tur- 




GORE AND DREAMS 

i battle-ships, armor, and li 
/, I had fully expected that i 

his navy I should find consi_ 

pt at grim and terrible magnificence, for 
it was always Perry’s idea to overawe these 
ignorant cave men when we had to contend 
with them in battle. But I had soon learned 
that while one might easily astonish them 
with some new engine of war, it was an utter 
impossibility to frighten them into sur¬ 
render. 

I learned later that Ja had gone carefully 
over the plans of various craft with Perry. 
The old man had explained in detail all th .t 
the text told him of them. The two had 
measured out dimensions upon the ground, 
that Ja might see the sizes of different boats. 
Perry had built models, and Ja had had him 
read carefully and explain all that they could 
find relative to the handling of sailing ves¬ 
sels. The result of this was that Ja was the 
one who had chosen the felucca. It' /as well 
that Perry had had so excellent a balance 
wheel, for he had been wild to build a huge 
frigate of the Nelsonian era — he told me so 





PELLUCID AR 


? that had inclined Ja particularly 
to tne ieiucca was the fact that it included 
oars in its equipment. He realized the limi¬ 
tations of his people in the matter of sails, 
and while they had never used oars, the im¬ 
plement was so similar to a paddle that he 
was sure they quickly ^puld master the art — 
and they did. As soon as one hull was com¬ 
pleted Ja kept it on the water constantly, 
first with one crew and then with another, 
until tw T o thousand red warriors had learned 
to row. Then they stepped their masts and 
a cxew was told oiT for the first ship. 

While the others were building' they 
learned to handle theirs. x\s each succeeding 
boat was launched its crew took it out and 
practiced with it under the tutorage of those 
who had graduated from the first ship, and 
so on until a full complement of men had 
been trained for every boat. 

Well, to get back to the battle: The 
Ploojans kept on corning at us, and as fast 
as they came we mowed them down. It was 
little else than slaughter. Time and time 






GORE AND DREAMS 


283 


again 1 cried to them to surrender, promising 
them their lives if they would do so. At last 
there were but ten boatloads left. These 
turned in flight. They thought they could 
paddle away from us — it was pitiful! I 
passed the word from boat to boat to cease 
firing — not to kill another Hoojan unless 
they fired on us. Then we set out after them. 
There was a nice little breeze blowing and 
we bowled along after our quarry as grace¬ 
fully and as lightly as swans upon a park 
lagoon. As we approached them could see 
not only wonder but admiration in their 
eyes. I hailed the nearest dugoi 1. 

“ Throw down your arms and come aboard 
us,” I cried, “and you shall not he harmed. 
We will feed you and return you *o the main¬ 
land. Then you shall go free upon your 
promise never to bear arms aga fist the Em¬ 
peror of Peliocidar again!” 

,vas the promise of food that in- 
t n most. They cc lid scarce be- 

I e would not kill them. But when 

l the prisoners we already had 
showed them that they'were alive 





284 


PELLUCIDAR 


and unharmed, a great Sagoth in one of the 
boats asked me what guarantee I could give 
that I would keep my word. 

“None other than my word,” I replied. 
“ That I do not break.” 

The Pellucidarians themselves are rather 
punctilious about this same matter, so the 
Sagoth could understand that I might pos¬ 
sibly be speaking the truth. But he could 
not understand why we should not kill them 
unless we meant to enslave them, which I 
had as much as denied already when I had 
promised to set them free. Ja couldn't ex¬ 
actly see the wisdom of my plan, either. He 
thought that we ought to follow up the ten 
remaining dugouts and sink them all; but I 
insisted that we must free as many as pos¬ 
sible of our enemies upon the mainland. 

“You see,” I explained, “these men will 
return at once to Hooja’s Island, to the 
Mahar cities from which they come, or to 
the countries from which they were stolen 
by the Mahars. They are men of two races 
and of many countries. They will spread the 
story of our victory far and wide, at d while 




GORE AND DREAMS 


285 


they are with us, we will let them see and 
hear many other wonderful things which 
they may carry back to their friends and 
their chiefs. It’s the finest chance for free 
publicity, Perry,” I added to the old man, 
“ that you or I have seen in many a day.” 

Perry agreed with me. As a matter of 
fact, he would have agreed to anything that 
would have restrained us from killing the 
poor devik who fell into our hands. He was 
a great fellow to invent gunpowder and fire¬ 
arms and cannon; but when it came to using 
these things to kill people, he was as tender¬ 
hearted as a chicken. 

The Sagoth who had spoken was talking 
to other Sagoths in his boat. Evidently 
they were holding a council over the ques¬ 
tion of the wisdom of surrendering. 

“What will become of you if you don’t 
surrender to us?” I asked. “If we do not 
open up our batteries on you again and kill 
you all, you will simply drift about the sea 
helplessly until you die of thirst and starva¬ 
tion. You cannot return to the islands, for 

you have seen as well as we that the natives 

■/ 




286 


PELLUCIDAR 


there are very numerous and warlike. They 
would kill you the moment you landed.’’ 

The upshot of it was that the boat of which 
the Sagoth speaker was in charge surren- 
• dered. The Sagoths threw down their 
'weapons, and we took them aboard the ship 
next in line behind the Amoz . First Ja had 
to impress upon the captain and crew of the 
ship that the prisoners were not to be abused 
or killed. After that the remaining dugouts 
paddled up and surrendered. We distributed 
them among the entire fleet lest there be too 
many upon any one vessel. Thus ended the 
first real naval engagement that the Pellu- 
cidarian seas had ever witnessed — though 
Perry still insists that the action in which 
the Sari took part was a battle of the first 
magnitude. 

The battle over and the prisoners disposed 
of and fed — and do not imagine that Dian, 
Juag, and I, as well as the two hounds were 
not fed also — I turned my attention to the 
fleet. We had the feluccas close in about the 
flag-ship, and with all the ceremony of a 
medieval potentate on parade I received the 






_ GORE AND DREAMS 287 

commanders of the forty-nine feluccas that 
accompanied the flag-ship — Dian and I to¬ 
gether— the empress and the emperor of 
Pellucidar. 

It was a great occasion. The savage, 
bronze warriors entered into the spirit of it, 
for as I learned later dear old Perry had left 
no opportunity neglected for impressing 
upon them that David was emperor of Pellu¬ 
cidar, and that all that they were accomplish¬ 
ing and all that he was accomplishing was 
due to the power, and redounded to the glory 
of David. The old man must have rubbed 
it in pretty strong, for those fierce warriors 
nearly came to blows in their efforts to be 
among the first of those to knee* before me 

i 

and kiss my hand. When it came to kissing 
Dian’s I think they enjoyed it more; I know 
I should have. 

A happy thought occurred to me as I stood 
upon the little deck of the Amoz with the 
first of Perry’s primitive cannon behind me. 
When j a kneeled at my feet, the first to do 
me homage, I drew from its scabbard at his 
side the sword of hammered iron that Perry 










'288 


PELLUCIDAR 


had taught him to fashion. Striking him 
lightly on the shoulder I created him king 
of Anoroc. Each captain of the forty-nine 
other feluccas I made a duke. I left it to 
Perry to enlighten them as to the value of 
the honors I had bestowed upon them. 

During these ceremonies Raja and Ranee 
had stood beside Dian and me. Their bellies 
had been well filled, but still they had diffi¬ 
culty in permitting so much edible humanity 
to pass unchallenged. It was a good educa¬ 
tion for them though, and never after did 
they find it difficult to associate with the 
human race without arousing their appetites. 

After the ceremonies were over we had a 
chance to talk with Perry and Ja. The for¬ 
mer told me that Ghak, king of Sari, had 
sent my letter and map to him by a runner, 
and that he and Ja had at once decided to set 
out on the completion of the fleet to ascer¬ 
tain the correctness of my theory that the 
Lural Az, in which the Anoroc Islands lay, 
was in reality the same ocean as that which 
lapped the shores of Thuria under the name 
of Sojar Az, or Great Sea. 





GORE AND DREAMS 


289 


Their destination had been the island re¬ 
treat of Hooja, and they had sent word to 
Ghak of their plans that we might work in 
harmony with them. The tempest that had 
blown us off the coast of the continent had 
blown them far to the south also. Shortly 
before discovering us they had come into a 
great group of islands, from between the 
largest two of which they were sailing when 
they saw Hooja’s fleet pursuing our dugout. 

I asked Perry if he had any idea as to 
where we were, or in what direction lay 
Hooja’s island or the continent. He replied 
by producing his map, on which he had care¬ 
fully marked the newly discovered islands — 
there described as the Unfriend y Isles — 
which showed Hooja’s island northwest of us 
about two points west. 

He then explained that with compass, 
chronometer, log and reel, they had kept a 
fairly accurate record of their course from 
the time they had set out. Four of the 
feluccas were equipped with these instru¬ 
ments, and all of the captains had been in¬ 
structed in their use. 




PELLUCIDAR 


290 

IK. »»1 

I was very greatly surprised at the ease 
with which these savages had mastered the 
rather intricate detail of this unusual work, 
but Perry assured me that they were a won¬ 
derfully intelligent race, and had been quick 
to grasp all that he had tried to teach them. 

Another thing that surprised me was the 
fact that so much had been accomplished 
in so short a time, for I could not believe 
that I had been gone from Anoroc for a suf¬ 
ficient period to permit of building a fleet of 
fifty feluccas and mining iron ore for the 
cannon and balls, to say nothing of manufac¬ 
turing these guns and the crude muzzle¬ 
loading rifles with which every Mezop was 
armed, as well as the gunpowder and ammu¬ 
nition they had in such ample quantities. 

“Time!” exclaimed Perry. “Well, how 
long were you gone from Anoroc before we 
picked you up in the Sojar Az?” 

That was a puzzler, and I had to admit it. 
I didn’t know how much time had elapsed 
and neither did Perry, for time is nonexistent 
in Pellucidar. 

“Then, you see, David,” he continued, “T 





GORE AND DREAMS 


291 


had almost unbelievable resources at my dis¬ 
posal. L he Mezops inhabiting the Anoroc 
Islands, which stretch far out to sea beyond 
the three principal isles with which you are 
familiar, number well into the millions, and 
by far the greater part of them are friendly 
to Ja. Men, women, and children turned to 
and worked the moment Ja explained the 
nature of our enterprise. 

“And not only were they anxious to do 
all in their power to hasten the day when 
the Mahars should be overthrown, but — and 
this counted for most of all — they are sim¬ 
ply ravenous for greater knowledge and for 
better ways of doing things. 

“The contents of the prospector set their 
imaginations to working overtime, so that 
the} craved to own, themselves, the knowl¬ 
edge which had made it possible for other 
men to create and build the things which you 
brought back from the outer world. 

“And then,” continued the old man, “the 
element of time, or, rather, lack of time, oper¬ 
ated to rny advantage. There being no 
nights, there was no laying off from work — 






292 


PELLUCIDAR 


they labored incessantly stopping only to eat 
and, on rare occasions, to sleep. Once we 
had discovered iron ore we had enough 
mined in an incredibly short time to build 
a thousand cannon. I had only to show them 
once how a thing should be done, and they 
would fall to work by thousands to do it. 

“Why, no sooner had we fashioned the 
first muzzle-loader and they had seen it work 
successfully, than fully three thousand 
Mezops fell to work to make rifles. Of 
course there was much confusion and lost 
motion at first, but eventually Ja got them in 
hand, detailing squads of them under compe¬ 
tent chiefs to certain work. 

“We now have a hundred expert gun- 
makers. On a little isolated isle we have a 
great powder-factory. Near the iron-mine, 
which is on the mainland, is a smelter, and 
on the eastern shore of Anoroc, a well 
equipped shipyard. All these industries are 
guarded by forts in which several cannon are 
mounted and where warriors are always on 
guard. 

“You would be surprised now, David, at 




GORE AND DREAMS 


293 


the aspect of Anoroc. I am surprised my¬ 
self; it seems always to me as I compare it 
with the day that I first set foot upon it from 
the deck of the Sari that only a miracle could 
have worked the change that has taken 
place.” 

“It is a miracle/’ I said; “it is nothing 
short of a miracle to transplant all the won¬ 
drous possibilities of the twentieth century 
back to the Stone Age. It is a miracle to 
think that only five hundred miles of earth 
separate two epochs that are really ages and 
ages apart. 

“It is stupendous, Perry! But still more 
stupendous is the power that you and I wield 
in this great world. These people look upon 
us as little less than supermen. We must 
show them that we are all of that. 

“We must give them the best that we 
have, Perry.” 

“Yes,” he agreed; “we must. I have been 
thinking a great deal lately that some kind 
of shrapnel shell or explosive bomb would be 
a most splendid innovation in their warfare. 
Then there are breech-loading rifles and 




PELLUCIDAR 


«g* rnr Hi 


those with magazines that I must hasten to 
study out and learn to reproduce as soon as 
we get settled down again; and-” 

“Hold on, Perry!” I cried. “I didn’t 
mean these sorts of things at all. I said that 
we must give them the best we have. What 
we have given them so far has been the 
worst. We have given them war and the 
munitions of war. In a single day we have 
made their wars infinitely more terrible and 
bloody than in all their past ages they have 
been able to make them with their crude, 
primitive weapons. 

“In a period that could scarcely have ex¬ 
ceeded two outer earthly hours, our fleet 
practically annihilated the largest armada of 
native canoes that the Pellucidarians ever be¬ 
fore had gathered together. We butchered 
some eight thousand warriors with the twen¬ 
tieth-century gifts we brought. Why, they 
wouldn't have killed that many wa'rriors in 
the entire duration of a dozen of their wars 
with their own weapons! No, Perry; we’ve 
got to give them something better than sci¬ 
entific methods of killing one another/’ 





295 


_ GORE AND DR EAMS 

The old man looked at me in amazement. 
There was reproach in his eyes, too. 

“Why, David!” he said sorrowfully. “I 
thought that }^ou would be pleased with what 
I had done. We planned these things to¬ 
gether, and I am sure that it was you who 
s uggested practically all of it. I have done 
only what I thought you wished done and 
I have done it the best that I know how/’ 

I laid my hand on the old man’s shoulder. 
“Bless your heart, Perry!” I cried. 
“You’ve accomplished miracles. You have 
done precisely what I should have done, only 
you’ve done it better. I’m not finding fault; 
but I don’t wish to lose sight myself, or let 
you lose sight, of the greater work which 
must grow out of this preliminary and neces¬ 
sary carnage. First we must place the em¬ 
pire upon a secure footing, and we can do so 
only by putting the fear of us in the hearts 

of our enemies; but after that- 

“Ah, Perry! That is the day I look for¬ 
ward to! When you and I can build sewing- 
machines instead of battleships, harvesters 
of crops instead of harvesters of men, plow- 








296 


PELLUCIDAR 


shares and telephones, schools and colleges, 
printing-presses and paper! When our mer¬ 
chant marine shall ply the great Pelluci- 
darian seas, and cargoes of silks and type¬ 
writers and books shall forge their ways 
where only hideous saurians have held sway 
since time began!” 

"Amen!” said Perry. 

And Dian, who was standing at my side, 
pressed my hand. 




s 

CHAPTER XV 

CONQUEST AND PEACE 

T HE fleet sailed directly J 

island, coming to anchor at its rioi iii- 
eastern extremity before the flat-topped hill 
that had been Hooja’s stronghold. I sent one 
of the prisoners ashore to demand an im¬ 
mediate surrender; but as he told me after¬ 
ward they wouldn’t believe all that he told 
them, so they congregated oj* the cliff-top 
and shot futile arrows at us. 

In reply I had five of the feluccas can¬ 
nonade them. When they scampered away 
at the sound of the terrific explosions, and 
at sight of the smoke and the iron balls I 
landed a couple of hundred red warriors and 
led them to the opposite end of the hill into 
the tunnel that ran to its summit. Here we 
met a little resistance; but a volley from the 
muzzle-loaders turned back those who dis¬ 
puted our right of way, and presently we 
gained the mesa. Here again we met re¬ 
sistance, but at last the remnant of Hooja’s 
u ' ndered. 


297 


PELLUCIDAR 


with me, and I lost no 
3 him and his tribe the 
in their ancestral home f ' 
unin mcj vvere robbed of it by Ho 
created a kingdom of the island, 

Juag king there. Before we sailed I went 
to Gr-gr-gr, chief of the beast-men, taking 
Juag with me. There the three of us ar¬ 
ranged a code of laws that would permit the 
brute-folk and the human beings of the 
island to live in peace and harmony. 
Gr-gr-gr sent his son with me back to Sari, 
capital of my empire, that he might learn 
the ways of the human beings. I have hopes 
of turning this race into the greatest agri¬ 
culturists of Pellucidar. 

When I returned to the fleet I found that 
one of the islanders of Juag’s tribe,'who had 
been absent when we arrived, had just re¬ 
turned from the mainland with the news 
that a great army was encamped in the Land 
of Awful Shadow, and that they were threat¬ 
ening Thuria. I lost no time in weighing 
anchors and setting out for the continent, 
which we reached after a short and easy 




CONQUEST AND PEACE 


voyage. 

From the deck of the Amoz I scanned the 
shore through the glasses that Perry had 
brought with him. When we were close 
enough for the glasses to be of value I saw 
that there was indeed a vast concourse of 
warriors entirely encircling the walled vil¬ 
lage of Goork, chief of the Thurians. As we 
approached smaller objects became distin¬ 
guishable. It was then that I discovered 
numerous flags and pennants floating above 
the army of the besiegers. 

I called Perry and passed the glasses to 
him. 

“Ghak of Sari,” I said. 

Perry looked through the lenses for a 
moment, and then turned to me with a smile. 

‘'The red, w r hite, and blue of the empire,” 
he said. “ It is indeed your majesty’s arm) 7 .” 

It soon became apparent that we had been 
sighted by those on shore, for a great mul¬ 
titude of warriors had congregated along the 
beach watching us. We came to anchor as 
close in as we dared, which with our light 
feluccas was within easy speaking-distance 







300 


PELLUCIDAR 


of the shore. Ghak was there and his eyes 
were mighty wide, too; for, as he told us 
later, though he knew this must be Perry’s 
fleet it was so wonderful to him that he could 
not believe the testimony of his own eyes 
even while he was watching it approach. 

To give the proper effect to our meeting 
I commanded that each felucca fire twenty- 
one guns as a salute to His Majesty Ghak, 
King of Sari. Some of the gunners, in the 
exuberance of their enthusiasm, fired solid 
shot; but fortunately they had sufficient 
good judgment to train their pieces on the 
open sea, so no harm was done. After this 
we landed — an arduous task since each 
felucca carried but a single light dugout. 

I learned from Ghak that the Thurian 
chieftain, Goork, had been inclined to 
haughtiness, and had told Ghak, the Hairy 
One, that he knew nothing of me and cared 
less; but I imagine that the sight of the fleet 
and the sound of the guns brought him to 
his senses, for it was not long before he sent 
a deputation to me, inviting me to visit him 
in his village. Here he apologized for the 




CONQUEST AND PEACE 


301 


treatment he had accorded me, very gladly 
swore allegiance to the empire, and received 
in return the title of king. 

We remained in Thuria only long enough 
to arrange the treaty with Goork, among the 
other details of which was his promise to fur¬ 
nish the imperial army with a thousand lidi, 
or Thurian beasts of burden, and drivers for 
them. These were to accompany Ghak’s 
army back to Sari by land, while the fleet 
sailed to the mouth of the great river from 
which Dian, Juag, and I had been blown. 

The voyage was uneventful. We found 
the river easily, and sailed up it for many 
miles through as rich and wonderful a plain 
as I have ever seen. At the head of naviga¬ 
tion we disembarked, leaving a sufficient 
guard for the feluccas, and marched the re¬ 
maining distance to Sari. 

Ghak’s army, which was composed of war¬ 
riors of all the original tribes of the federa¬ 
tion, showing how successful had been his 
efforts to rehabilitate the empire, marched 
into Sari some time after we arrived. With 
them were the thousand lidi from Thuria. 




302 


PELLUCIDAR 


At a council of the kings it was decided 
that we should at once commence the great 
war against the Mahars, for these haughty 
reptiles presented the greatest obstacle to 
human progress within Pellucidar. I laid 
out a plan of campaign which met with the 
enthusiastic indorsement of the kings. 
Pursuant to it, I at once despatched fifty lidi 
to the fleet with orders to fetch fifty cannon 
to Sari. I also ordered the fleet to proceed 
at once to Anoroc, where they were to take 
aboard all the rifles and ammunition that had 
been completed since their departure, and 
with a full complement of men to sail along 
the coast in an attempt to find a passage to 
the inland sea near w r hich lay the Mahars' 
buried city of Phutra. 

Ja was sure that a large and navigable 
river connected the sea of Phutra with the 
Lural Az, and that, barring accident, the fleet 
would be before Phutra as soon as the land 
forces were. 

At last the great army started upon its 
march. There were warriors from every one 
of the federated kingdoms. All were armed 




CONQUEST AND PEACE 


303 


either with bow and arrows or muzzle-load¬ 
ers, for nearly the entire Mezop contingent 
had been enlisted for this march, only suffi¬ 
cient having been left aboard the feluccas to 
man them properly. I divided the forces 
into divisions, regiments, battalions, com¬ 
panies, and even to platoons and sections, 
appointing the full complement of officers 
and non-commissioned officers. On the long 
march I schooled them in their duties, and 
as fast as one learned I sent him among the 
others as a teacher. 

Each regiment was made up of about a 
thousand bowmen, and to each was tempo¬ 
rarily attached a company of Mezop muske¬ 
teers and a battery of artillery — the latter, 
our naval guns, mounted upon the broad 
backs of the mighty lidi. There was also 
one full regiment of Mezop musketeers and 
a regiment of primitive spearmen. The rest 
of the lidi that we brought with us were used 
for baggage animals and to transport our 
women and children, for we had brought 
them with us, as it was our intention to 
march from one Mahar city to another until 




304 


PELLUCIDAR 


we had subdued every Mahar nation that 
menaced the safety of any kingdom of the 
empire. 

Before we reached the plain of Phutra we 
were discovered by a company of Sagoths, 
who at first stood to give battle; but upon 
seeing the vast numbers of our army they 
turned and fled toward Phutra. The result 
of this was that when we came in sight of 
the hundred towers which mark the en¬ 
trances to the buried city we found a great 
army of Sagoths and Mahars lined up to give 
us battle. 

At a thousand yards we halted, and, plac¬ 
ing our artillery upon a slight eminence at 
either flank, we commenced to drop solid 
shot among them. Ja, who was chief artil¬ 
lery officer, was in command of this branch 
of the service, and he did some excellent 
work, for his Mezop gunners had become 
rather proficient by this time. The Sagoths 
couldn’t stand much of this sort of warfare, 
so they charged us, yelling like fiends. We 
let them come quite close, and then the mus¬ 
keteers who formed the first line opened up 




CONQUEST AND PEACE 


305 


on them. 

The slaughter was something frightful, 
but still the remnants of them kept on com¬ 
ing until it was a matter of hand-to-hand 
fighting. Here our spearmen were of value, 
as were also the crude iron swords with 
which most of the imperial warriors were 
armed. 

We lost heavily in the encounter after the 
Sagoths reached us; but they were abso¬ 
lutely exterminated — not one remained even 
as a prisoner. The Mahars, seeing how the 
battle was going, had hastened to the safety 
of their buried city. When we had over¬ 
come their gorilla-men we followed after 
them. 

But here we were doomed to defeat, at 
least temporarily; for no sooner had the first 
of our troops descended into the subter¬ 
ranean avenues than many of them came 
stumbling and fighting their way back to the 
surface, half-choked by the fumes of some 
deadly gas that the reptiles had liberated 
upon them. We lost a number of men here. 
Then I sent for Perry, who had remained 




306 


PELLUCIDAR 


discreetly in the rear, and had him construct 
a little affair that I had had in my mind 
against the possibility of our meeting with 
a check at the entrances to the underground 
city. 

Under my direction he stuffed one of his 
cannon full of powder, small bullets, and 
pieces of stone, almost to the muzzle. Then 
he plugged the muzzle tight with a cone- 
shaped block of wood, hammered and 
jammed in as tight as it could be. Next he 
inserted a long fuse. A dozen men rolled 
the cannon to the top of the stairs leading 
down into the city, first removing it from 
its carriage. One of them then lit the fuse 
and the whole thing was given a smart shove 
down the stairway, while the detachment 
turned and scampered to a safe distance. 

For what seemed a very long time nothing 
happened. We had commenced to think 
that the fuse had been put out while the 
piece was rolling down the stairway, or that 
the Mahars had guessed its purpose and ex¬ 
tinguished it themselves, when the ground 
about the entrance rose suddenly into the 




CONQUEST AND PEACE 


307 


air, to be followed by a terrific explosion and 
a burst of smoke and flame that shot high 
in company with dirt, stone, and fragments 
of cannon. 

Perry had been working on two more of 
these giant bombs as soon as the first was 
completed. Presently we launched these 
into two of the other entrances. They were 
all that were required, for almost immedi¬ 
ately after the third explosion a stream of 
Mahars broke from the exits furthest from 
us, rose upon their wings, and soared north¬ 
ward. A hundred men on lidi were des¬ 
patched in pursuit, each lidi carrying two 
riflemen in addition to its driver. Guessing 
that the inland sea, which lay not far north 
of Phutra, was their destination, I took a 
couple of regiments and followed. 

A low ridge intervenes between the Phutra 
plain where the city lies, and the inland sea 
v here the Mahars were wont to disport 
themselves in the cool waters. Not until we 
he 1 topped this ridge did we get a view of 
tlie sea. 

Then we beheld a scene that I shall never 





308 


PELLUCIDAR 


forget so long as I may live. 

Along the beach were lined up the troop 
of lidi, while a hundred yards from shore 
the surface of the water was black with the 
long snouts and cold, reptilian eyes of the 
Mahars. Our savage Mezop riflemen, and 
the shorter, squatter, white-skinned Thurian 
drivers, shading their eyes with their hands, 
were gazing seaward beyond the Mahars, 
whose eyes were fastened upon the same 
spot. My heart leaped when I discovered 
that which was chaining the attention of 
them all. Twenty graceful feluccas were 
moving smoothly across the waters of the 
sea toward the reptilian horde! 

The sight must have filled the Mahars 
with awe and consternation, for never had 
they seen the like of these craft before. For 
a time they seemed unable to do aught but 
gaze at the approaching fleet; but when the 
Mezops opened on them with their muskets 
the reptiles swam rapidly in the direction of 
the feluccas, evidently thinking that these 
would prove the easier to overcome. The 
commander of the fleet permitted them to 




CONQUEST AND PEACE 


309 


approach within a hundred yards. Then he 
opened on them with all the cannon that 
could be brought to bear, as well as with the 
small arms of the sailors. 

A great many of the reptiles were killed at 
the first volley. They wavered for a moment, 
then dived; nor did we see them again for 
a long time. 

But finally they rose far out beyond the 
fleet, and when the feluccas came about and 
pursued them they left the water and flew 
away toward the north. 

Following the fall of Phutra I visited 
Anoroc, where I found the people busy in 
the shipyards and the factories that Perry 
had established. I discovered something, 
too, that he had not told me of — something 
that seemed infinitely more promising than 
the powder-factory or the arsenal. It was 
a young man poring over one of the books I 
had brought back from the outer world! He 
was sitting in the log cabin that Perry had 
had built to serve as his sleeping quarters 
and office. So absorbed was he that he did 
not notice our entrance. Perry saw the look 




310 


PELLUCID AR 


of astonishment in my eyes and smiled. 

“ 1 started teaching him the alphabet when 
we first reached the prospector, and were 
taking out its contents,” he explained. “ He 
was much mystified by the books and anx¬ 
ious to know of what use they were. When 
I explained he asked me to teach him to 
read, and so I worked with him whenever 
I could. He is very intelligent and learns 
quickly. Before I left he had made great 
progress, and as soon as he is qualified he is 
going to teach others to read. It was mighty 
hard work getting started, though, for 
everything had to be translated into Pellu- 
cidarian. 

“It will take a long time to solve this 
problem, but I think that by teaching a num¬ 
ber of them to read and write English we 
shall then be able more quickly to give them 
a written language of their own.” 

And this was the nucleus a.bout which we 
were to build our great system of schools 
and colleges — this almost naked red war¬ 
rior, sitting in Perry’s little cabin upon the 
island of Anoroc, picking out words letter 




CONQUEST AND PEACE 


311 


by letter from a work on intensive farming. 
Now we have- 

But I'll get to all that before I finish. 

While we were at Anoroc I accompanied 
ja in an expedition to South Island, the 
southernmost of the three largest which 
form the Anoroc group — Perry had given 
it its name — where we made peace with the 
tribe there that had for long been hostile 
toward Ja. They were now glad enough to 
make friends with him and come into the 
federation. From there we sailed with sixty- 
five feluccas for distant Luana, the main 
island of the group where dwell the heredi¬ 
tary enemies of Anoroc. 

Twenty-five of the feluccas were of a new 
and larger type than those with which Ja and 
Perry had sailed on the occasion when they 
chanced to find and rescue Dian and me. 
They were longer, carried much larger sails, 
and were considerably swifter. Each car¬ 
ried four guns instead of two, and these 
were so arranged that one or more of them 
could be brought into action no matter 
where the enemy lay. 





312 


PELLUCIDAR 


The Luana group lies just beyond the 
range of vision from the mainland. The 
largest island of it alone is visible from I 
Anoroc; but when we neared it we found ; 
that it comprised many beautiful islands, I 
and that they were thickly populated. The ' 
Luanians had not, of course, been ignorant 
of all that had been going on in the domains 
of their nearest and dearest enemies. They 
knew of our feluccas and our guns, for sev¬ 
eral of their raiding-parties had had a taste 
of both. But their principal chief, an old man, 
had never seen either. So, when he sighted 
us, he put out to overwhelm us, bringing ■ 
with him a fleet of about a hundred large 
war-canoes, loaded to capacity with javelin-1 
armed warriors. It was pitiful, and I told 
Ja as much. It seemed a shame to massacre., 
these poor fellows if there was any way out, 
of it. 

To my surprise Ja felt much as I did. He i 
said he had always hated to war with other I 
Mezops when there were so many alien races 
to fight against. I suggested that we hail 
the chief and request a parley; but when Ja 





CONQUEST AND PEACE 


313 


did so the old fool thought that we were 
afraid, and with loud cries of exultation 
urged his warriors upon us. 

So we opened up on them, but at my sug¬ 
gestion centered our fire upon the chief’s 
canoe. The result was that in about thirty 
seconds there was nothing left of that war 
dugout but a handful of splinters, while its 
crew — those who were not killed — were 
struggling in the water, battling with the 
myriad terrible creatures that had risen to 
devour them. 

We saved some of them, but the majority 
died just as had Hooja and the crew of his 
canoe that time our second shot capsized 
them. 

Again we called to the remaining warriors 
to enter into a parley with us; but the chief’s 
son was there and he would not, now that 
he had seen his father killed. ITe was all 
for revenge. So we had to open up on the 
brave fellows with all our guns; but it didn’t 
last long at that, for there chanced to be 
wiser heads among the Luanians than their 
chief or his son had possessed. Presently 




314 


PELLUCIDAR 


an old warrior who commanded one of the 
dugouts surrendered. After that they came 
in one by one until all had laid their weapons 
upon our decks. 

Then we called together upon the flag-ship 
all our captains, to give the affair greater 
weight and dignity, and all the principal men 
of Luana. We had conquered them, and they 
expected either death or slavery; but they 
deserved neither, and I told them so. It is 
always my habit here in Pellucidar to im¬ 
press upon these savage people that mercy 
is as noble a quality as physical bravery, and 
that next to the men who fight shoulder to 
shoulder with one, we should honor the 
brave men who fight against us, and if we 
are victorious, award them both the mercy I 
and honor that are their due. 

By adhering to this policy I have won to I 
the federation many great and noble peoples, '] 
who under the ancient traditions of the inner 
world would have been massacred or en¬ 
slaved after we had conquered them; and 
thus I won the Luanians. I gave them their 
freedom, and returned their weapons to 







CONQUEST AND PEACE 


315 


them after they had sworn loyalty to me and 
friendship and peace with Ja, and I made the 
old fellow, who had had the good sense to 
surrender, king of Luana, for both the old 
chief and his only son had died in the battle. 

When I sailed away from Luana she was 
included among the kingdoms of the empire, 
whose boundaries were thus pushed east¬ 
ward several hundred miles. 

We now returned to Anoroc and thence to 
the mainland, where I again took up the 
campaign against the Mahars, marching 
from one great buried city to another until 
we had passed far north of Amoz into a 
country where I had never been. At each 
city we were victorious, killing or capturing 
the Sagoths and driving the Mahars further 
away. 

I noticed that they always fled toward the 
north. The Sagoth prisoners we usually 
found quite ready to transfer their allegiance 
to us, for they are little more than brutes, 
and when they found that we could fill their 
‘ tomachs and give them plenty of fighting, 
ihey were nothing loath to march with us 




316 


PELLUCIDAR 


against the next Mahar city and battle with 
men of their own race. 

Thus we proceeded, swinging in a great 
half-circle north and west and south again 
until we had come back to the edge of the 
Lidi Plains north of Thuria. Here we over¬ 
came the Mahar city that had ravaged the 
Land of Awful Shadow for so many ages. 
When we marched on to Thuria, Goork and 
his people went mad with joy at the tidings 
we brought them. 

During this long march of conquest we 
had passed through seven countries, peopled 
by primitive human tribes who had not yet 
heard of the federation, and succeeded in 
joining them all to the empire. It was notice¬ 
able that each of these peoples had a Mahar 
city situated near by, which had drawn upon 
them for slaves and human food for so manv 
ages that not even in legend had the popula¬ 
tion any folk-tale which did not in some de¬ 
gree reflect an inherent terror of the rep¬ 
tilians. 

In each of these countries I left an officer 
and warriors to train them in military 




CONQUEST AND PEACE 


317 


discipline, and prepare them to receive the 
arms that I intended furnishing them as rap¬ 
idly as Perry's arsenal could turn them out, 
for we felt that it would be a long, long time 
before we should see the last of the Mahars. 
That they had flown north but temporarily 
until we should be gone with our great army 
and terrifying guns I was positive, and 
equally sure was I that they would presently 
return. 

The task of ridding Pellucidar of these 
hideous creatures is one which in all proba¬ 
bility will never be entirely completed, for 
their great cities must abound by the hun¬ 
dreds and thousands in the far-distant lands 
that no subject of the empire has ever laid 
eyes upon. 

But within the present boundaries of my 
domain there are now none left that I know 
of, for I am sure we should have heard indi¬ 
rectly of any great Mahar city that had 
escaped us, although of course the imperial 
army has by no means covered the vast area 
which I now rule. 


we returned to Sari, 




318 


PELLUCID AR 


where the seat of government is located. 
Here, upon a vast, fertile plateau, overlook¬ 
ing the great gulf that runs into the conti¬ 
nent from the Lural Az, we are building the 
great city of Sari. Here we are erecting 
mills and factories. Here we are teaching 
men and women the rudiments of agricul¬ 
ture. Here Perry has built the first printing- 
press, and a dozen young Sarians are teach¬ 
ing their fellows to read and write the 
language of Pellucidar. 

We have just laws and only a few of them. 
Our people are happy because they are al¬ 
ways working at something which they 
enjoy. There is no money, nor is any money 
value placed upon any commodity. Perry 
and I were as one in resolving that the root 
of all evil should not be introduced into 
Pellucidar while we lived. 

A man may exchange that which he pro¬ 
duces for something which he desires that 

another has produced: but he cannot dispose 
• • 

of the thing he thus acquires. In other 
words, a commodity ceases to have pecuniary 
value the instant that it passes out of the 





CONQUEST AND PEACE 


319 


hands of its producer. All excess reverts to 
government; and, as this represents the pro¬ 
duction of the people as a government, gov¬ 
ernment may dispose of it to other peoples 
in exchange for that which they produce. 
Thus we are establishing a trade between 
kingdoms, the profits from which go to the 
betterment of the people — to building fac¬ 
tories for the manufacture of agricultural 
implements, and machinery for the various 
trades we are gradually teaching the people. 

Already Anoroc and Luana are vying with 
one another in the excellence of the ships 
they build. Each has several large ship¬ 
yards. Anoroc makes gunpowder and 
mines iron ore, and by means of their ships 
they carry on a very lucrative trade with 
Thuria, Sari, and Amoz. The Thurians 
breed lidi, which, having the strength and 
intelligence of an elephant, make excellent 
draft animals. 

Around Sari and Amoz the men are do¬ 
mesticating the great striped antelope, the 
meat of which is most delicious. I am sure 
that it will not be long before they will have 




320 


PELLUCID AR 


them broken to harness and saddle. The. 
horses of Pellucidar are far too diminutive 
such uses, some species of them being 
le larger than fox-terriers. 

Dian and I live in a great palace overlook- 
the gulf. There is no glass in our win- 
Irs, for we have no windows, the w r alls 
1 g but a few feet above the floor-line, the 
of the space being open to the ceilings; 
we have a roof to shade us from the per¬ 
petual noon-day sun. Perry and I decided 
set a style in architecture that would not 
curse future generations with the white 
plague, so we have plenty of ventilation. 
Those of the people who prefer, still inhabit 
their caves, but many are building houses 
similar to ours. 

At Greenwich we have located a tow r n and 
an observatory — though there is nothing to 
observe but the stationary sun directly over¬ 
head. Upon the edge of the Land of Awful 
Shadow is another observatory, from which 
the time is flashed by wireless to every cor¬ 
ner of the empire twenty-four times a day. 
In addition to the wireless, we have a small 




CONQUEST AND PEACE 


321 


:elephone system in Sari. Everything is yet 
n the early stages of development; but with 
:he science of the outer-world twentieth 
:entury to draw upon we are making rapid 
progress, and with all the faults and 
errors of the outer world to guide us clear 
of dangers, I think that it will not be long- 
before Pellucidar will become as nearly a 
Utopia as one may expect to find this side of 
heaven. 

Perry is away just now, laying out a rail¬ 
way-line from Sari to Amoz. There are im¬ 
mense anthracite coal-fields at the head of 
the gulf not far from Sari, and the railway 
will tap these. Some of his students are 
working on a locomotive now. It will be a 
strange sight to see an iron horse puffing 
through the primeval jungles of the stone 
age, while cave bears, saber-toothed tigers, 
mastodons and the countless other terrible 
creatures of the past look on from their tan¬ 
gled lairs in wide-eyed astonishment. 

We are very happy, Dian and I, and I 
would not return to the outer world for all 
the riches of all its princes. I am content 





JCIDAR 


■* **v 




here. Even without my imperial powers and 
honors I should be content, for have I not 
that greatest of all treasures, the love of a 
good woman — my wondrous empress, Dian 
the Beautiful? 


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library of congress 


































































